Is the dream ambiguity in Total Recall broken in the machine failure scene?

The movie Total Recall (1990) plays with the possibility that everything in the movie is just a dream, suggesting, in the end, that it probably is.

But in the beginning, when the machine seems to fail because of the hidden memory of being a secret agent, there is a scene which does not follow Quaid's perspective but shows an outside perspective of the failure.

This scene seems to break with the possibility that everything is a dream as the events in this scene cannot be from Quaid's memory.

Is there some explanation for this scene? I cannot believe the producers really wanted to break the ambiguity, which is the plot twist in the movie.

plot-explanation total-recall

Best Answer

According to the director it is not.

During his directors commentary for the film, Paul Verhoven goes to great lengths to demonstrate his maintenance of the parallel plot device and does indeed cite this very scene as both the possible objective and subjective break within the story, stating that, despite seeing events from a third person perspective "what the characters and the audience think is a fuck up of the machine, may also be the beginning of the ego trip" (depending on what side of the plot choices the viewer decides to take at face value).

Although Quaid features in most scenes, not all are shown from his perspective (particularly those involving Cohaagen), so despite some variation in character P.O.V.'s the film maker's are adamant that the ambiguity is intended to be sustained from the moment Quaid first enters the implant chair at Rekall through to the final shot

Pictures about "Is the dream ambiguity in Total Recall broken in the machine failure scene?"

Is the dream ambiguity in Total Recall broken in the machine failure scene? - Blue Car Parked Beside White Building

Is the dream ambiguity in Total Recall broken in the machine failure scene? - Person in Gray Sweater Holding Black Textile

Is Total Recall a dream or not?

Conclusion? It Was A Dream. In the end, there's simply too much evidence, too much coincidence that one would need to accept in order to believe that Total Recall is anything other than a memory implant. The blue sky on the planet Mars is too much of a coincidence.

Is Quaid dreaming in Total Recall?

Quaid is dreaming, and the moment the camera cuts away from the start of the Rekall procedure, everything that follows is our visual impression of Quaid's dream. In fact, many of the movie's plot elements are culled directly from innocuous moments embedded in those few opening scenes.

Did Quaid really go to Mars?

The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Douglas Quaid, a construction worker who uses a memory-implanting company called Rekal to take a simulated vacation to Mars as a secret agent. He ends up going on just such an adventure but believes that it is real, the result of real memories that were suppressed.

What happened at the end of Total Recall 2012?

The Director's Cut ends with Quaid, on finding the real Melina, noticing that his forearm is missing the Rekall symbol he received earlier. Recalling Matthias' words, during their short meeting, that the past blinds us to the present our heart wants, Quaid decides to accept his current world with Melina as real.

Total Recall - A bad dream (dying on Mars)

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Ivan Samkov, AaDil, Ivan Samkov, Ivan Samkov