ABSTRACT
The similarities between Christopher Nolan’s Inception and Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island have been pointed out by a few critics; while some attribute them to a supposed lack of creativity (Clover 2011) or to “Hollywood’s mental block” (Cox 2010a), others focus on parallels between the two films, albeit largely from a specifically clinical, psychoanalytical perspective (Clarke 2012). Indeed, both films feature very similar backstories-a trauma occurred in the past to the male protagonist (played in both films by Leonardo DiCaprio) concerning the death of his wife following tragic circumstances. In Inception, corporate espionage contractor Cobb’s actions are motivated by the desire to be reunited with his children from whom he was forced to part following an incriminating letter filed by his wife, Mal, to the authorities; in Shutter Island, federal marshal Teddy Daniels (whose real name is Andrew Laeddis) kills his wife, Dolores, because she murdered their three children. 1 In both stories dreams and hallucinations of the wives impact the present lives of the protagonists, which are driven by an obsession with conspiratorial plots leading to ambiguous endings. Furthermore,
pa ol
o ru
ss o
the two films share similar visual imagery of dramatically steep cliffs and the recurrent element of water-sea, lake, river, harbor.
