One particularly annoying cinema conversation point is when people refer to the structure ofChristopher Nolan’sMementoas “a gimmick.” A gimmick is a hook that serves no point. It gets your attention, but, by its very nature, has no payoff. If Nolan dressedGuy Pearcein a chicken costume for the entirety of the movie and never explained it, that would be a gimmick. However,thereverse chronology ofMementois essential to its power because it’s the only way to put the audience in the mindset of its brain-damaged detective, Leonard Shelby (Pearce, not wearing a chicken costume). “It’s all backwards,” Burt (Mark Boone Junior) says in one of the film’s more meta moments, but the reverse chronology does pull you into Leonard’s world — one where we see the effect without a cause, and can only see the power of causation as we move further back in time. This unique structure givesMementoa powerful hook, as Nolan is able to brilliantly intersect time, identity, and memory into his finest feature.
A man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife’s murderer.
What Is ‘Memento’ About?
Memento’s story follows Leonard Shelby, who hasshort-term memory lossfollowing a horrific break-in at his house in which his wife was raped and murdered. In the incident, Leonard was dealt a severe blow to the head which gave him his condition. He has since been chasing the guy who did it, but his search is complicated by the fact that he can’t make new memories since the accident. So, Leonard convinces himself that through conditioning, he can be disciplined enough to find vengeance. But as the story unfolds,the reveal isn’t in apprehending the true culprit, but rather learning that Leonard is chasing his own ghost. He has purposefully been creating a mystery he can never solve because he’s already solved it, yet he has forgotten that he has already achieved his vengeance.
Instead, everyone Leonard meets uses him, including corrupt cop Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), vindictive bartender Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), and even Burt, the hotel desk clerk. Leonard clings to this shred of control he believes he has, but that control is an illusion. He thinks that his Polaroids and tattoos are hard evidence, but they’re just as fallible as memory. In the end, he learns (before he forgets again) thathis wife survived the attack and that she took her own lifeby having Leonard give her too much insulin.
Why Is ‘Memento’s Leonard Shelby Such an Effective Character?
The figure of a man like Leonard Shelby — who believes he’s in control, only to learn that his control is an illusion — recurs inChristopher Nolan’s filmography. This type of character works particularly well inMementobecause of how Nolan is able to upend expectations of thenoir genre. Leonard is our detective, and while he struggles with his condition, he should still be able to solve the case. However, the film slowly reveals thatwhat Leonard’s working towards isn’t justice or even vengeance, but clinging to the scraps of his identity. He’s conditioned himself not to solve the case, but rather to create a simulacrum of his old life as an insurance investigator (another reason he can’t stop talking about Sammy Jankis (Stephen Tobolowsky)). Leonard has constructed an elaborate lie that allows him to live out the same fantasy and hold onto the identity so that he can solve a mystery. Everyone lies to Leonard — most of all, Leonard.
Why ‘Memento’s Message About Lying Is So Profound
What gives the story its potency is thatMementorecognizes that we all lie to ourselves. Christopher Nolan simply found a vehicle to make the lie one of the stars of the film. Leonard’s not lying to himself about his success or his ego.He’s lying to himself about his very identity, and his brain damage allows him to perpetuate this mythology endlessly. It’s only when we recall the very first scene that we remember that Leonard has a new opportunity to break the cycle. Without Teddy around to use Leonard as a weapon, and a new photo marking Teddy’s demise, maybe Leonard will tell himself the truth. Maybe that can break the cycle, but until we reach that resolution (that comes at the very beginning), we have to get to the thematic truth of the film, which doesn’t come until we understand why Leonard killed Teddy in the first place.
Like all of us, Leonard wants to feel like his actions have meaning. “The world doesn’t just disappear when you close your eyes,” Leonard says. But withcausality broken in Leonard’s mind, he has become somewhat divorced from the world.Mementois a powerful story about the hold that identity has on us, and how it can even transcend the loss of short-term memory. Leonard is convinced that he knows who he is, but it’s not until the climax that Teddy tells him, “That’s who youwere.“Leonard doesn’t want to face the factsthat without his vengeance and without a mystery to solve, he’s just a guy with brain damage who has to figure out his new place in the world. His own wife died by suicide, and rather than remember what happened to her, he made up a comforting narrative about Sammy Jankis.
How Does ‘Memento’ Compare to Other Christopher Nolan Films?
Constructing all this together within a neo-noir framework is brilliant, and watchingMementois like looking at a house of cards you’re sure is going to topple over any moment. But Christopher Nolan and editorDody Dornknow exactly where to cut in the action, and how to immaculately structure the narrative so that the audience is never lost. LikeFollowing,Inception,Dunkirk, orany other Nolan filmthat plays with time,Nolan isn’t trying to lose his audience. This isn’tPrimerwhere you throw up your hands and just have to go along for the ride. Nolan even presents his prologue in black-and-white so that you’re aware you’re looking at Leonard in a narrative that’s separate from the reverse narrative, until both narratives meet up at the climax of the movie.
Christopher Nolan’s movies are obsessed with notions of control, and control over time contrasts nicely with Leonard’s illusion of control over his own story. Where Nolan and his protagonist sync up is how much control they exert over the power of narrative. Nolan is fascinated by the concept of narratives and how the power of creation is inextricably linked to destruction.Leonard has created an entirely new identity built on a lie, and because his creation is based on a lie, it ultimately leads to a destructive conclusion, which is that he becomes nothing more than Teddy’s hitman. Like The Young Man fromFollowing,Robert Angier fromThe Prestige, or Mal fromInception, Leonard has provided himself with a comforting lie, and that lie has proven to be his downfall until he finally decides to pursue something that’s true — Teddy is using him, and so Teddy must be stopped.
Leonard Uses Lies To Protect Himself in ‘Memento’
The cautionary tale inMementois that Leonard Shelby, despite his unique condition, is universal in how he lies to himself. Nolan isn’t opposed to the concept of a lie — he’s a storyteller after all. But he’s fascinated by how lies are implemented.For Nolan, lies are tools, and sometimes they can be used for benevolent purposes, like a magic show inThe Prestigeor themind heist inInception. InMemento, Leonard finds a new lie — that Teddy is responsible for the rape and murder of Leonard’s wife — but like all good art, it’s a lie that tells the truth. Teddy may not be responsible for Leonard’s condition, but his desire to use Leonard as a weapon makes him at least partially responsible for Leonard’s predicament. “You don’t want the truth,” Teddy tells Leonard. “You make up your own truth.” And so the truth Leonard decides to follow is that Teddy must be eliminated, and the reason why doesn’t matter because Leonard’s never going to remember the reasons anyway. Leonard lies to himself on a tapestry of good intentions; he tells himself he’s not a killer. But it’s his actions that have meaning even if he can’t remember them.
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ThroughMemento’s ingenious plotting and characterization, Christopher Nolan made a movie where the lie itself became the protagonist. Thecentral irony of Leonard Shelby is that his motives are based on the search for truth, but he consumes nothing but lies. He even conditions himself to believe more lies because the truth can be too painful. “You lie to yourself to be happy…We all do it!” Teddy exclaims. But to quote a later Nolan film, “Sometimes the truth isn’t good enough. Sometimes people need something more. Sometimes they need their faith rewarded.” Leonard Shelby eventually learns that he needs to believe his actions still have meaning, and that conditioning himself into becoming a vengeful detective isn’t the truth he needs. Whether his lie leads him to a better truth is a question forbefore the opening credits roll.
