there is only one ending: he was dreaming

One way to know that he is in reality as opposed to dreaming.
In all his dreams, when the children break thru his subconscious, they are young as they were when he left. Philippa is wearing a pink dress and black shoes.
they look the same also in the house when he is talking to Mal when he and Ariadne are there looking for Fisher. Cobb can't picture them any other way because he has NOT seen them since he left.
The day he left Philippa was wearing black shoes and a frilly dress and had blonde hair.

When he came home at the end, Phillipa is taller and has brown hair and is wearing pink sneakers and a different dress with a white t shirt. the little boy is dressed similar to when he was younger but different clothes.

now if Cobb was in a dream state he would see them the only way he knows how, as they were then. because his subconscious drives the dream.

But since they are actually older and look different we must assume he has actually gone home. and yes the top was losing its spin and starting to fall as the camera pulls away.

A second way to know he is finally home is his ring finger. when he was dreaming/working, he had his ring on!! when he sees Saito the last time before awakening on the plane he has on his ring and it is very distinctive.
But when he wakes on plane the ring is gone and it is also gone when he goes thru customs.
The director left may tell tale clues for us and the ring is one of them.
Dreaming...ring on.
Awake....ring gone.

I watched that video several years ago. I don't know how much I agree with him. He is right that Nolan has several points that make the question ambiguous. He clearly tries to confuse reality with dreams several times in the movie. I believe the movie is better understood as a work of literature rather than a logic problem. There are a number of repeating images in the movie including, the safe, trains, the elevators, and mirrors. Nolan tells you in the very first scene (when Cobb ties a rope around Mal's chair leg or when Cobb is pushed into a bathtub) that the symbolism is important.

For instance, Mal is what is called a "mirror character" to Cobb. When you look in a mirror, your image is not exactly the same as you. (If you are left-handed, then your mirror image is right-handed.) Cobb sees the image of Mal in the mirror in Yusuf's basement.

Mirror characters are usually used to show that one character makes different choices than the other when faced with the exact same situation. Mal became obsessed with her Inception ("To wake up, we have to die.") In turn, Cobb becomes obsessed with his Inception (the guilt over his wife's death.) Unlike Mal -- through his catharsis, Cobb is able to overcome his guilt. This is foreshadowed by Ariadne in the infinite mirror sequence. She shatters one mirror which foreshadows Cobb's catharsis.

This is the reason for Mal being on the ledge directly across from him. It fits the literal motif of the mirror image rather than obvious logic.

The kid's line about "I built a house on a cliff" may be significant, but Nolan downplayed that line in his one and only interview. It makes sense that it could be a clue as to whether Cobb is dreaming, but I prefer to focus on Cobb not staring at the top. It indicates that he is cured of his emotional obsession with his wife's death (the resilient parasite.)

The item that bothered me the most was his answer about Carl Jung. They movie is based on Carl Jung's architecture of the mind. If he does not understand that connection, then he missed a significant analog to the film.



👿 I know something you don't know ... I am ambidextrous!