Inception

what if the wife was right the entire movie? it fits in with the ending

how the machine that allows for shared dreaming works, or any details about it at all

1. It was all a dream, since we didnt see the top stop spinning, and the wife could be right, which most people will see it as
2. It was all real, and the wife was wrong

I interpret it the 2nd way

The totems they use to tell weather or not they are dreaming are explained to be unique items that only you know the weight, feel, shape, or defining characteristics of
The top that he has as his totem isnt his, it was his wife's
Presumably the first time he touched it was in limbo with Mal, since he would have no reason to touch it while they were awake, which would skew his perception of it
Meaning that it only spins forever in a dream because he's been told thats what its supposed to do (by Mal)
Which opens up the possibility that it could stop spinning even in a dream simply because he is just that convinced that hes not dreaming
If its possible for it to not spin, even in a dream, then it fails as a way to tell if its a dream

And since the top wasnt his totem to begin with, it leaves the question of what was his totem
What did he use to know if he was in a dream before he started using his wife's top?
Well at the end he doesnt even bother to look back at the top (something he was more or less obsessed with up until this point), which means, w/e his totem is was there and it did or looked like w/e its supposed to do or be
Dont say he didnt look back at it because he was distracted by his kids
If anything, the presence of his kids shouldve made him doubt that it was reality since being able to see his kids has only been possible in the dreams for awhile now (though he never did look directly at them, see below)

I can't say what his totem was though
It might have been his kids, since in the dreams he never looked at them from the front, even going so far as to cover his face when they turned to him
But the act of covering his face like that is up for interpretation
Point is, it wasn't the top

But then that leaves another question, which i have yet to be able to answer
Why was he using the top at all if he had something else and knew it?
I have some theories to answer it, like his wife indirectly performed an inception on him
The top spinning is her idea, that she planted in a passive way, that he believes
But that doesnt explain why he would ignore it at the end

Here's a much simpler explanation of why this was real
If it was all a dream, even the part where we think its reality, and Mal committing suicide would cause her to wake up from it, whats stopping her from going back into his dream, or what he considers reality, and telling him that this is all a dream
She should be able to appear in what we think is reality and just tell him that this is a dream

they were talking about the penrose stairs and how important they were they only used them like once again in the entire movie

I dont think they would use something like that more then once after explaining it, it would get old fast
In fact they probably only explained it to help people pick up on how it was used
Cause even after the explanation, i know alot of people that didnt get what happened when they used it until you remind them about the staircase from earlier