Memento is a film written and directed by Christopher Nolan based on his brother Jonathan's short story "Memento Mori". It stars Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss. and Joe Pantoliano. The film was released in 2000 to widespread critical acclaim, and received a Golden Globe (best screenplay) and two Oscar (best screenplay and best editing) nominations.

The film consists entirely of an intricately woven pattern of flashbacks. While the black and white sequences progress chronologically forward in time, the color scenes are arranged in reverse order. Thus the opening (color) scene of the film is chronologically the last event in the story. The opening scene is shown in reverse motion to clue watchers in to the film's scene progression.

Tagline: Some memories are best forgotten.

Plot

Memento can be summarized as it is seen in the film, in reverse chronological order, or as the events actually happen, in chronological order. Because the film is viewed backwards, as it progresses the plot becomes more cohesive and further revealed. However to get a basic plot summary, it is easier to view the plot in sequential order. The film leaves the viewer with many questions that can be answered in different ways. These various interpretations will be discussed later. Realizing that there is some ambiguity surrounding these different interpretations, the following is a general overview of the film.

Leonard, played by Guy Pearce, believes that his wife was raped and killed in a struggle in his house. In the struggle Leonard was badly hurt, and he now suffers from a form of brain damage (severe anterograde amnesia, also called "anterograde memory dysfunction"). He only remembers incidents from before the struggle, and now his affliction keeps him from being able to form new memories. In order to remember events he keeps notes and tattoos himself with important clues that he discovers. He also keeps photos of people he meets to remember them by. All he lives for is to take revenge on the man who raped and murdered his wife, and he uses these notes to achieve this revenge.

Leonard was a clever insurance investigator before his accident, who could look into someone's eyes and read their movements to determine if they were guilty or not. His first major case dealt with Sammy Jankis, a victim of short-term memory loss. Using a series of seemingly easy tests, based on instinct and not memory, Leonard concluded that Sammy was faking his memory loss in a way that cut off Sammy's insurance. Leonard tells a story about Sammy and his wife. He tells how Sammy's wife believed that Sammy's condition was mental and that he could snap out of it. She tests Sammy by repeatedly asking him to give her a shot of insulin. Sammy's wife was a diabetic. She knew that Sammy loved her, and thought that this woud snap him out of it, or perhaps she did not want to live without the "old Sammy". Sammy gives her that insulin shot however, and she dies from an overdose.

In a bizarre twist of fate, Leonard falls victim to the same disorder and finally realizes that the look he thought he saw in Sammy's eyes was one of wanting to remember and feigning recognition. He suddenly becomes Sammy and tells his story to explain his condition.

The audience is introduced to a cop named Teddy who was assigned to investigate the death of Leonard's wife, and who eventually becomes friends with Leonard. He helps him track down a man named John G., who was the other rapist from the break-in. Leonard and Teddy eventually find the real John G. and kill him. We only know this through a picture that Teddy gave Leonard, but Leonard can't remember why he has it. Since Leonard can't remember anything, Teddy uses him to kill a drug dealer, Jimmy Grantz, and take his money.

In that scene, Teddy tells Leonard the truth about everything. He says that Leonard has in fact killed the real John G., several years ago. Leonard refuses to believe this, and proceeds to make himself forget (which doesn't take long considering his condition). In the process of forgetting, Leonard writes down on his photos a plan that will keep him on a hunt to kill "a John G.". Leonard does not want to believe it, so he intentionally does not write what Teddy tells him. Instead, he writes "Do not believe his lies" on Teddy's picture. Lenny does not want to believe Teddy because, if what Teddy says is true, then Leonard has nothing left to live for. He voluntarily forgets the truth because that is the only life he knows how to live. He leaves himself clues throughout the film – the tattoos and photos with notes on the back – to help him in his process of forgetting and to continue trying to find and kill the man who raped and murdered his wife.

He is misdirected by a note from Jimmy Grant's girlfriend Natalie. She watches Leonard pull up in Jimmy's car, wearing his suit which he had taken after killing him. She decides to test him and see if he is telling the truth about his memory loss. She finally decides to use Leonard to get rid of a man named Dodd.

Leonard is obsessed with figuring out his own puzzle but believes that he should help out Natalie. In a chase scene, Leonard ends up escaping the person he is chasing and running from (Dodd), and ends up in Dodd's hotel room. Leonard captures Dodd and gets Teddy to help get rid of him. They put Dodd in the car, and he apparently leaves town.

Upon hearing that Dodd is out of the picture, Natalie agrees to help find out whose license plate he has tattooed on his leg (he has forgotten that it was Teddy's car). Leonard is very surprised that it is actually Teddy who owns the car. Teddy's real name is John Edward Gammel — John G.. Leonard kills Teddy, thus making his plan work, and he will forever be able to get his revenge on John G.

Questions and interpretations

Some common, definitive interpretations of the film

• Leonard definitely received brain damage during the struggle in the bathroom. He has the condition anterograde amnesia and is unable to form new memories
• There is general agreement that, despite numerous ambiguities, other characters in the film (such as Natalie and Teddy) are manipulating Leonard because of his condition, and using him as a means to achieve their own ends.
• These two interpretations would discredit any possibility that Leonard could be faking his condition, because then he would be allowing others to take advantage of him, and this would contradict his obsession with his organizational system. He constantly takes polaroids, writes himself notes, and tattoos the facts on his body, precisely so that no one can take advantage of him because of his condition.

Is Teddy lying?

Most of the questions and interpretations of the film below hinge on this question.

• The viewer must decide if he or she trusts Teddy or Leonard in order to draw conclusions about other interpretations that build or depend upon the answer to this question.
• However, the viewer's only insight about Teddy is from Leonard, who has no short-term memory, and who is therefore not a particularly reliable source.

Is Teddy a police officer?

This question depends, again, on whether the viewer trusts Teddy or Leonard.

• If the viewer trusts Teddy, who claims to be a police officer, then the viewer is accepting that he is actually a police officer.
• If the viewer trusts Leonard, who has taken as fact that Teddy is a liar, then Teddy cannot be a police officer because the viewer can't believe anything he says.

Does Sammy exist? Is Sammy actually Leonard?

There are also two answers to this question:

• Teddy is lying when, at the end of the film, he tells Leonard that Sammy was really Leonard himself. If you believe this, then Sammy actually existed as a person in Leonard's past and is not the same person as Leonard.
• Teddy is not lying in the above situation. He is truthful and is trying to help Leonard realize that Sammy is a figment of Leonard's imagination but did not exist as a separate person. Sammy's story is Leonard's story.

Is Leonard's wife actually dead, and if so, how did she die?

• The answer to this question depends on whether or not Sammy is actually Leonard, which depends on whether Teddy is telling the truth. Therefore, there are also two answers to this question:
• In the first possibility (as above), if Teddy is lying and Sammy actually existed, then Leonard is telling the truth and his wife was raped and murdered on the same night as the incident in which he was hit over the head and lost his memory.
• The other possibility is that Teddy is telling the truth, Sammy is a figment of Leonard's imagination, and Sammy is really Leonard. If this is true, then Leonard's wife survived the incident, and Sammy's wife is really Leonard's wife. So Sammy's situation would be Leonard's situation, and Leonard would have killed his wife with the insulin.
• There is no way to determine whether or not Teddy is telling the truth about Leonard's wife. We don't know if she's alive or dead, and if she died, whether it was from the robbers or an insulin overdose. There are a few cryptic scenes intended to inform (or perhaps mislead) us: one black and white shot where Sammy is sitting in a chair, and for a brief instant he turns into Leonard, a shot that shows Leonard pinching his wife's leg and then a repeat of the same scene with him giving her an insulin injection, and a shot at the very end of the film in which Leonard is lying in bed with his wife (who's supposed to be dead, regardless of which version you believe) with his shirt off, and we can see that he has an extra tattoo: "I did it". He talked about getting this tattoo earlier (or later, chronologically speaking), but he never did.

What is the real message of Memento?

Despite the many questions the film raises, and the various interpretations the viewer can form, the message of the film, as explained to us by Leonard, is this: the truth doesn't matter. Leonard can never have an entirely complete, accurate picture of the truth, and neither can the viewer, who is forced to know only what Leonard knows, which is simply what he remembers. This implies the existential idea that our selves, just like our worlds, are constantly in motion, and we may be inclined to selectively remember who we were in order to strengthen who we are. As Leonard notes in the film: "Memory can change the shape of a room. It can change the color of your car". He follows this observation with a more concrete conclusion, saying: "the world doesn't just disappear when you close your eyes". Because he believes that there is at least some form of reality, Leonard will continue to try and grasp the world around him. Although he can live only in the moment, and his perspectives on certain aspects of his life may be a distortion of the truth, this belief allows him to cope with his vastly complex world and his inability to make new memories.

Characters

Leonard

Leonard, not "Lenny", is the main character and is played by Guy Pearce. The film is about Leonard seeking revenge on the man who raped and killed his wife. During the brawl with his wife's murderers, he is hit extremely hard on the head. Because of the accident, he now suffers from the condition anterograde amnesia, which mean that he has only short-term memory. He can only remember things that happened from when his wife died and before. When he is asked what is the last thing he remembers, he says it is his wife dying. He has a routine and a system of things that he needs to remember. Leonard writes notes on little scraps of paper, and places them where he will need to see them. He also takes Polaroid pictures of people and places that he needs to remember, and writes important notes on them. He tattoos his body with the different clues he finds so that he will remember them.

Teddy

Teddy's character is played by Joe Pantoliano. Throughout the film, Teddy's actions (such as changing his name) cause his credibility to be questioned by the viewer. Although Teddy acts as if he is Leonard's friend, he uses Leonard's handicap to his advantage. He never tries to hurt Leonard physically, but he plays many psychological games in order to manipulate him. For example, Teddy constantly lies to Leonard about which car he should drive and whether he should leave town or not. Because of his selfishness, Teddy remains a character who is never trusted, which leads to his death.

Natalie

Natalie is played by Carrie-Anne Moss, who is also known for her performance in The Matrix. She comes out a winner in the end, because she had been involved in drugs and owed somebody (Dodd) a lot of money. She befriends Leonard, and convinces him that he has enemies. Leonard thinks these people have hurt him or Natalie in some way. Natalie manipulates Leonard many times, and he falls for her lies time and time again.

Sammy Jankis

Sammy is played by Stephen Tobolowsky . Sammy is a significant character because he was a client of Leonard’s who suffered the same type of amnesia. Sammy had had an accident, which resulted in his short-term memory-loss. Both characters have anterograde amnesia. People with this type of amnesia find it hard to remember events, usually after suffering an injury to the head. They do not tend to forget their childhood or who they are, but have trouble remembering day-to-day events. His condition, and his wife's refusal to believe in it, brought about her death.

Mrs Jankis

She helped her husband out on the daily basis. Leonard knew her and her husband because he sold insurance to them. She thought her husband was lying about his problem, so she tested it by asking him over and over again to give her insulin shots. As a result she went into a coma and died.

Burt

Burt is played by Mark Junior . He is a local hotel clerk who helped Leonard to regain his memories. Although his part may seem somewhat small, he helped Leonard by taking all of his missed calls, as well as taking him back to his hotel room on a daily basis.

Dodd

Callum Keith Renniel plays Dodd. Natalie manipulates Leonard into tracking Dodd with the intention of killing him. She accomplishes this by convincing him that Dodd has beaten her. Dodd finds Leonard, rather than vice versa, resulting in a short chase. Dodd is after Leonard because he believes Leonard killed his drug-dealing partner, Jimmy. Leonard eludes him and plans an ambush, which results in Dodd being forced to leave town under the threat of his own gun.

Jimmy

Jimmy is Natalie's late boyfriend. The viewer learns at the end of the film (which is actually the beginning of the story), that he was killed by Leonard. He was the original owner of the Jaguar, which had lots of cash in the trunk. He was heavily involved in the drug business.

Critical responses

In his review of the film, long-time film critic Roger Ebert mentioned that there is one key plot-point that he does not understand; if the last thing that Leonard remembers is his wife’s death, then how does he remember that he has short-term memory loss? After watching the film twice, Ebert came to the conclusion that we are intended to be left in a state of confusion. Ebert gave the film three out of four stars. [1]

William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer writes that Memento is a "delicious one-time treat". Arnold enjoyed how the film constantly makes the viewer re-examine the situation and strain to make mental links between the different scenes. Arnold also observed that Leonard's memory loss and tattoos could be a metaphor for the increasing number of passwords and number codes we are now expected to remember. [2]

TV Guide's reviewer writes that Leonard is as much of a mystery to himself as he is to the audience. Whether or not the audience is willing to surrender to its fragmented, repetitive rhythms will determine whether or not they will find Christopher Nolan’s philosophical puzzle film enthralling or infuriating.

A.O. Scott of The New York Times liked Memento's noir feel and disorienting reverse chronology, calling it an "existential crossword puzzle". Scott writes that Nolan folds "straightforward events and simple motives into Möbius strips of paradox and indeterminacy". [3]

In 2005, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) ranks Memento at number twenty-three in its list of the top 250 films of all time. IMDb's rankings are based on ratings by Internet users.

Trivia

• Memento took twenty-five days to shoot. [4]
• Teddy's phone number is the same as Marla Singer’s in Fight Club, 555-0134. [5]
• The tattoo parlor is named after Christopher Nolan's wife and the film's associate producer, Emma Thomas. [6]
• A white Honda Civic can be seen parked next to Leonard Shelby's Jaguar at the motel; this is writer Christopher Nolan’s car. [7]
• Natalie's handwriting on the coaster that Lenny finds in his pocket changes from what it is just before Leonard enters Ferdy's Bar to what it is at the Tattoo Parlor. [8]

See also

• The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

External links

• Official site
• ChristopherNolan.net - Synopsis, trivia, analyses, DVD reviews, photographs, links
• A review in the same style as the film
• Movie "Memento" Plot FAQ