There are some debates that movie lovers will never give up on. What does the spinning top in Inception mean? Was it really impossible to fit Jack on the floating wreckage of the Titanic? Does the ending of Back to the Future make any sense whatsoever? And of course, one of the big ones: did Total Recall really happen, or was it all just a dream?
That last one is a real head scratcher. Based on the Philip K. Dick story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, Paul Verhoevenâs 1990 sci-fi blockbuster Total Recall tells the story of a blue-collar guy who buys fake memories of a trip to Mars, in which heâs a superspy. The implant goes wrong, it seems, when it turns out he really IS a superspy and has to go back to Mars to save the planet. But then a man shows up and tells the hero, Quaid, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, that itâs not a coincidence. Quaid is actually still on the operating table, and is suffering from a psychotic episode, trapped inside a delusion forever.
Total Recall Explained
Total Recall never explicitly tells the audience itâs a dream, or that itâs a reality, and so the debate has raged on for years. Some folks think itâs real, others think itâs a dream, and in an interview with filmmaker Paul Verhoeven about his new movie Elle we talked to the filmmaker about the issue and found out the truth. And it may not be satisfying.
TriStar Pictures
In short: Total Recall doesnât tell you whether itâs real or itâs a dream because itâs literally supposed to be both simultaneously, not unlike Schrödingerâs Cat.
âTotal Recall doesnât say whether itâs reality or it is a dream, you know? Itâs really saying thereâs this reality and thereâs that reality, and both exist at the same time,â Paul Verhoeven explained in a Canadian hotel room, the day after the film screened at TIFF. âBecause you look at Total Recall there is never a preference, letâs say, taken by me or the scriptwriter, to say this is really what he dreams about and this is the truth.â
âI wanted it to be that way,â Verhoeven clarifies. âBecause I felt that it was â if you want to use a very big word â post-modern. I felt that basically I should not say âThis is true, and this not true.â I wanted â and we worked with Gary Goldman on that, not the original writers â [and we] worked very hard to make both consistent, and that both would be true. And I think we succeeded very well. So I think of course there is no solution. Hey, itâs both true. So I thought, two realities; that it was innovative in movie language at least, to a certain degree, that there would be two realities and there is no choice.â
So if youâve been thinking that Total Recall was just a dream, youâre right. And if youâve been thinking that it was all really happening, youâre right too. Itâs not that the film doesnât tell you whether itâs a dream or not, itâs that the film works both ways simultaneously, to give you two experiences at the same time.
That may or may not be satisfying, but at least itâs an answer. And Paul Verhoeven is right, in that it really is post-modern as hell.
Top Photo: TriStar Pictures
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him âBibbsâ) is Craveâs film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved, Rapid Reviews and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.