*SPOILER* *SPOILER* *SPOILER*

Rating: Null/10 (9 February 2002)

*SPOILER* *SPOILER* *SPOILER* *SPOILER* *SPOILER *SPOILER*

THIS IS DEFINITELY A SPOILER (depending how you look at it, of course)----
I watched this movie last night and in the wee hours of the morning I really did have a dream which turned into a quasi nightmare. Now the funny thing is, immediately after I woke up, ---with my heart pounding, it immediately came to me a possible interpretation of what might have happened in this movie. However, the director probably made it so that there could be several interpretations. . .
The director is not asking us to stretch our incredulity, but just the opposite-- he is asking us to trust our common sense. In fact, this might be a hard film to translate to American audiences because of American optimism! He is asking you to shake your head in disbelief at a lot more than the sci-fi parts! and then trust and use that knowledge to figure out the movie!
This movie actually has a great deal of humor. I'll explain later.

In the very opening sequence, before the "Times Square" scene, before we even see Tom Cruise--- shot during the opening credits, there is a sequence of flying, from the viewpoint of the person doing the flying. Tom is already dreaming. Isn't flying a common dream subject?
Then we see him in bed. He's dreaming that he is waking up, twice, in fact. In this dream He's Incredibly handsome (in fact he looks like Tom Cruise!) He has a fabulous high-powered job, that he didn't have to slave for, he is fabulously wealthy (In reality he's just a poor, average looking commoner like most of us), he has a beautiful woman in his bed, a space-age high tech television in his bedroom--- also, a red Ferrari, going down an empty Times Square, then some other fabulous vehicle ---- Obviously he's dreaming (Obvious To everyone except maybe Warren Buffet and Bill Gates). Like I say, American audiences might have trouble seeing the outlandishness of the non sci-fi things. But in the viewpoint of the maker of this movie, outlandish they are.
In reality, his wife or girlfriend (who probably doesn't look anything like Penelope or Cameron --- How many men dream of their wives/girlfriends, when they're actually dreaming? . . .) is watching television in bed while he is sleeping. He incorporates things being said on the TV into his dream. Haven't you ever done that? When he starts to toss and turn in bed because his dream is turning into a nightmare, his wife/girlfriend ---whoever--- tries to wake him. I think he had two nightmares. . . the first one was when he was flying (he's afraid of heights, and is looking down) and that is when we first hear her voice, she is trying to gently wake him from his nightmare. This is the voice we hear when we first hear "open your eyes". He doesn't wake, but it causes his dream to shift. The TV is still playing in reality, hence the weird background noises throughout the movie. He "morphs" the "cryogenics" commerical in his dream. . . She is trying to wake him gently. "open your eyes" she says several times in the movie. Both Penelope and Cameron are his "dream girls" but his wife's voice is real. . .

At the very end of the movie, he's waking up from his nightmare. His wife says "Relax, open your eyes. . ." (Again, his wife probably doesn't look anything like Penelope Cruz) and we see one eye open. His skin has a sweaty sheen to it and the light of the bedside lamp is shining on his face. He's been awakened.
One humorous part is when he is dreaming that Cameron is telling how great he is in bed, and that he had sex four times in one night (not saying that this is impossible, just seems like a dream aspect).
The movie also had a message within it, too. But that's may take for now. I think I will see it again.