Re: Why Total Recall is deeper than you think [Spoilers]

Rating: Null/10 (9 May 2002)

Spoilers Ahead
To some extent, I agree with OutKast: The film certainly gives hints that all we are seeing is the implanted memory given to Quaid by Rekall. I think the clearest proof is the title of the dream the Rekall tech reads, "Blue Sky on Mars", or something similar.
However, there are hints in the other direction: Why does he dream of Melina before going to Rekall? How does Rekall know so much about his conversations with his wife and coworker that they can flawlessly integrate them into his dream? With the planet-changing events at the end, how will Quaid possibly reconcile any future reality with his memories? Does Rekall end marriages without prior consent? and if all we see is Quaid's memory, why do we see scenes that Quaid isn't in? (Many of these questions can be answered by saying that even the beginning of the film was implanted by Rekall. but then why include the trip to Rekall in his memory? and what about any real memories he had? Did they just overwrite his real wife? his real coworker? If his memory is so dramatically different from everyone else's doesn't that just make him a crazy guy now?)
However, I think that the few details like these that point in one direction or the other actually detract from its depth rather than add, like OutKast suggests. I think one element contributing to the movie's excellence is how well the movie works as EITHER an implanted memory OR a reality. Is Sharon Stone upset at the beginning because Quaid is dreaming of Mars showing that her subject is losing his memory block? or is she a loving wife, jealous of the girl in his dreams? Most scenes work exceedingly well with either interpretation.
I prefer the ambiguity, because the real depth of the movie is its ability to ask "what is real?". The film asks this question in the best way: by leaving the audience itself wondering what is real.