@@krishtandon7212 yeh it's a classic line..Chris Nolan this movie made his career..such an underrated movie... Your John g..ok..u can be my John g..I have to believe when my eyes are closed the world's still there..is it still there....yip..now what was I away to do
My favorite thing about this movie is how the backwards-facing segments reproduce the effect of Leonard's disability in the audience by making it very difficult to keep the events of the film in focus. It's so stressful to try and keep track that by the time a third of the film has passed, your brain just starts to let go of events as soon as they happen, and by the end, you're just as lost as Leonard. It's the most brilliant use of editing for psychological effect that I've ever seen in a film.
yeah and how you don’t remember the last picture of leonard, it’s like you’re experiencing what leonard is going through and you really just want to see how everything leads to the first scene. very interesting and artsy film
I usually remember movies I have seen in details! but except this one hahaha! I saw its ad appearing somewhere again and I knew I had seen it before but I had no recollection of its details! and when this happens for any reason (Sometimes I try to forget them to enjoy them) I go back and watch that movie again. Now this time I noticed since I had no conclusion about the end of the movie that is why I could not remember it!---- But what you said occur to me too. I thought the director was testing our short memory to see if we would remember it if he tells the story backward! and until a moment that we start to lose it due the things you mentioned you start to feel his situation even better! I elaborately agree with you, this is a brilliant movie in so many ways, and as this video suggest it can have many different possibilities that I am so tired to think about them now hahahaa
I just watched the movie today. I think it was incredible and it made me question a lot of things. People say it's really good, I think I should watch it.
I just finally watched this movies after YEARS of putting it off.. here’s my take 1. The attack on Lenny and his wife happened, she was raped but she survived the attack and he was left with his Amnesia. However he vows to find his wife’s attacker and keeps note of it on his body.. (the clip with his wife laying on his chest). His wife hopes he will snap out of his amnesia and move on but he never does, she just wants her husband back but she’s stuck with a man hell bent on finding the killer. 2. She tests him with the insulin shots and he ends up killing his own wife... the cops investigate it and figure out Lenny killed his wife and put him in a home (the clip of him on the mental institute).. 3. Lenny escapes and keeps trying to find his wife’s killer (due to amnesia Ofcourse)... he runs into Teddy who feels bad for him and helps him find his wife’s killer.. (the burglar who escaped) .. 4. Teddy hoped that helping him find and kill the burglar will finally give him peace and he hoped Lenny would at least remember that.. but he never does Ofcourse.. then begins the part where Teddy starts to use Lenny for deals, stealing money from drug dealers and using Lenny as his gunman. 5. The viscous cycle ends when the cop blabbed and bragged to John G about this guy who never remembers anything and is obviously great for drug deals as he will never snitch.. John G gets killed by Lenny but not before whispering Sammy to him.. indicating he knew of his condition.. Lenny finds out he’s being used and decides to end the cycle by killing Teddy.
That's exactly how I see it, but didn't know how to put into words. Thanks lol It's crazy how people have so many different understandings of this movie, only goes to show how brilliant it really is. It's rare when movie makes you think like that
Chris Nolan actually turned all of us to a Lenny, Why? We've all watched this movie multiple times and we don't even aware of this and keep continuing to watch it
It is important to note that the "I've Done It" tattoo is not reversed as the others are. The others are done this way so that he may read them in the mirror. I think that this one is not reversed because he never had it tattooed. He is imagining it on his chest in this fantasy so naturally it would be placed so that he could read it clearly as an outside observer.
@@shamstabrezshaikh4202 not really man. Like, you have choices there and in Memento, you are forced to watch Lenny's story and perception of his life. I liked Bandersnatch but you can't compare it to Memento. Memento is a total mind crap
The shot where he is happy in the polaroid and pointing to his chest, is the exact same spot where at the end of the film where he imagines himself holding his wife; 'I've done it' is then tattooed ...
I took that last shot as Leonard being an unreliable narrator. His memories are not accurate (like all memories) and when confronted with the horrible truth, he decides to doom Teddy and continue the search forever.
On a larger scale, I think Nolan wants us to realize that we subconsciously adjust/tweak the memories that we have in order to fit our narratives. We have a plethora of memories both good and bad and naturally we must learn to live with them. However, when we reflect upon these memories, how we remember them constructs our sense of reality. That’s why sometimes the idea of something can sometimes be better than the actual thing and vice versa when it’s a negative memory. I think Nolan wants to draw our attention to how much our ego is involved when it comes to our memories.
This movie is a masterpiece, just watched it for the first time and I'm blown away by how great it was. I definitely agree with your last interpretation, Lenny is stuck in a cycle and won't be free from it because he doesn't want to accept the truth (he killed his own wife)
I think the story might go like this: Leonard is Sammy himself. His wife was raped by 2 strangers. He shot 1, 1 hit him in the mirror. She survied. He got his short memories lost condition since then. He is the one who accidentally killed his wife by giving her too many insulin shots when she was testing him. The cops didn't trust him. He was sent to an institution. Although he had that condition, her death is too much to forget. He couldn't accept the fact that he killed his wife, so he made up the Sammy Jankins story and believed that his wife was killed that faithful night. He got out of the institution somehow. He was helped by Teddy to find the "John G" and he killed the real JG a year ago. After that, he has been used by Teddy to make dirty money from killing other JG. At the final scene, he knew he had been used for quite a long time. He set Teddy to be his new target. He killed Teddy. Maybe he will be caught after that.
OR there was no John G and police report was correct that the Guy who Leo shot was also the same guy who hit him in his head. The police report has missing pages and crossed out words to hide the fact that his wife survived. Memento's official website shows that she did survive, the very reason why Leo ended up in a mental institution is probably because of him killing his wife. he can easily do day to day stuff with his notes, there's no reason to keep him in there if he can function as a normal member of the society. He was in there because he killed his wife and that prompted the authorities to put him there.
This was best answer. EDIT: I made a separate comment instead with further 3 short explanations that makes this movie quite clear and gets rid of the misunderstandings in this movie.
@@nclp1751 I think sammy really existed but sammy has no wife or short-term memory lost? cuz teddy said "Sammy was a fraud, he dont hav and wife, but u do"
Interesting breakdown, but there's so many subtle details in the film which a lot of people either misinterpret or overlook altogether that point to a completely different conclusion, such as the one in the institution at 8:04 or Leonard's "I"s and "1"s looking identical, leading him to jot down the wrong license plate and eventually see it the way he believes it's supposed to be. Based on the evidence, the most logical conclusion is Leonard is faking his condition, just like Sammy. If he wasn't, he would have been able to learn through repetition, which is how Sammy was exposed. The fact he was staying at the Discount Inn for weeks and still didn't learn which way the door opens was a prime example Another thing which a lot of people mix up is anterograde vs retrograde amnesia. Since Leonard is supposed to have anterograde amnesia, he can't remember things after the traumatic event, but he supposedly didn't remember major events such as his wife being diabetic or that Sammy was faking his condition because he didn't learn through repetition, things he should have remembered, but *chose* not to. Which is why he removed the pages from the police report about his wife surviving the assault among other things, so he can lie to himself enough to create his own reality. Truly an ingenious film, among the best I've ever seen
Great points! To add to it more, he somehow always remembers his condition, to check the drawers and that they should have a Bible, plus he says "you learn to trust your own handwritting" and that notes are unreliable, etc. All indications, that he is learning some new things. But I dont think his wife was actually diabetic. Notice that scene is in color. But the one where he is in the institution is in black and white. I think the black and white is what actually happened. He was in the institution, which is where learned about his condition and possible got his first tattoes. But the wife being diabetic is a lie by Teddy. Otherwise why does Teddy say he thought Lenny would remember when they found the guy that killed his wife? He claims the guy doesnt exist, but also claims he did.. its a lie. Mixed with some truth...
@@matthowdy334 Thank you, you raise some interesting questions yourself. Some of this film is definitely subjective, what's certain though is his wife absolutely was diabetic and he did kill her with an overdose of insulin. He doesn't remember because like I said, he chooses not to, regardless of whether one believes he's faking it or not. Him killing his wife doesn't fit the whole John G narrative, which is why he removed the pages from the police report. He conditioned himself to believe she wasn't diabetic both as a way of protecting himself from the truth that he killed his own wife and to give himself a purpose to live now that she's gone. Teddy was actually being completely honest when he was explaining everything after Leonard killed Jimmy Grants. He even admitted, though not in detail, that he profits off of Leonard's "condition" by tracking down and killing drug dealers and other unsavory characters like Grants. I hope this helps you understand why Teddy says there is a "killer", even though the only killer in the film is Leonard. I'm not saying Teddy is generally a good guy for what he does and how he uses Leonard, but he does like Leonard and laid out the complete truth in that scene near the end of the film. There's no angle for him to lie about those things. The black and white vs the color scenes have nothing to do with the truth. All it does is separate the same story in two different timelines, one forward, the other in reverse, and they eventually converge in the end. The part where we see Sammy in the institution, which we learn was really Leonard, just happened to fall into the black and white segment of the film.
@@SamAceRothstein Im not sure if its the color or bw parts but nearing the end of the movie he definitely gets a better grasp of everything and sees the whole picture for longer almost trying to show that its true what he figured out
(my take:) I do feel like that in the end, Leonard will end up caught and turned in to the psych ward, *because the only reason he's on the loose killing John G.s is because a literal cop is covering his tracks.* At the very beginning of the movie, he took a picture of Teddy (the cop's) dead body. I like to believe he captioned it saying 'I've killed him'. He had no reason not to, since he'd forgotten the truth *_and also forgotten the fact that he wanted to suppress it out of guilt._* Of course, if we want to believe he doesn't keep the picture he took of Teddie's dead body, who's to say. That isn't in the movie. But I think he'll keep it. In the end, with or without functioning memories, Leonard didn't have the human nature of a killer. I don't think he's so depraved, that he would rather continue killing people instead of living a life without purpose. When he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' he wasn't lying to himself just to continue living a narrative of righteous revenge, _he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' because he wanted to live continue living a narrative of righteous revenge _*_one last time._* Sammy was some conman who was caught, because it *should have been possible for him to be conditioned to not touch electified objects.* But when Leonard was injured and developed anterograde amnesia, it was the real deal. This was why *Leonard's wife kept testing him- but the conditioning didn't work even though it was supposed to, since his brain damage was real.* But his wife, unable to let him go, kept trying the conditioning tests that were supposed to work... and it ultimately killed her. This was where, despite his memory being in fragments, was consumed with guilt. *_Rather than admit to himself that the conditioning failed even though it should've worked, and accept he overdosed his wife, he planted fake memories into himself, _* such as: - His wife had died after the rape attempt (to hide the fact that he killed her) - The police didn't believe there was was a second person called John G. at the scene (untrue, Gammel the cop believed him and even helped him find and kill him) - Sammy wasn't a conman, and had a wife who died tragically after testing him (to hide the fact that Sammy was his cover, his excuse, and to push the reality of his wife's death onto a stranger) Honestly, I don't think anyone who died was completely unaware that they were playing with fire. The rapists deserved everything they had coming. Fuck them. - The rapist who actually did that to Leonard's wife, and fucked up Leonard's mind and life? Wish he'd died more painfully. - The original John G. also had it coming for aiding rape and assaulting Leonard. Rot in hell. - Leonard's wife should have known that escalating the tests and forcing Leonard to magically get rid of his brain damage wasn't very feasible. If the unreliable memories are to be trusted, she was starving him and screaming at him to snap out of it. She knew her life was at risk when she tried the insulin shots. I'd think of it as an aided suicide, where she used her own husband to end her life, ignoring the fact that her death would devastate a man who was already suffering from brain damage. She was the one light in his life... but she decided she'd rather die than live with the mentally crippled version of him. It's painful to accept, but they just weren't meant to grow old together. - the Jimmy drug dealer guy knew that Leonard was essentially a manipulated hitman. He knew he'd be in danger. I do think his death was a little unfortunate. It's hard to wish death on someone even if they deal drugs and extort people, because he was precious to others (like Natalie). - Gammel the cop deserved to die. He did help Leonard, but he was essentially the reason Leonard remained trapped in a neverending cycle of revenge. He knew the truth, he had evidence, he could have ended it, but it's very likely that he's the reason Leonard never had a tattoo of 'I've taken revenge' tatooed on his chest. He used Leonard like a hired gun without the money, and paid for it with his life. This sounds cheesy, but I think the movie shows that while perception and reality itself is at the mercy of memories and what we desperately want to believe in order to believe, there's something about human emotions that even memories can't change. The people in this movie are deeply flawed, but choose to show compassion for no real reason or profit- simply because they had the luxury of doing so. In the same way, Leonard is just someone who really, really loved his wife. The brain damage had made him exactly like Sammy, but killing his own wife was the reason he changed so drastically from a patient who was all but a vegetable babied by his wife, to someone ruthlessly organized and driven - just to forget. Leonard just wanted to kill Teddy, and end the cycle of being meaninglessly exploited while he meaninglessly sought revenge. Would he try to forget again if he was told the whole truth again? Yes, probably. But I don't think he would let himself chase random people. Most likely, he'd construct a puzzle much harder to solve, so he was left scrambling after the breadcrumbs he left for himself for the rest of his life. Because ultimately, it isn't the guilt of killing his wife that's the worst thing in his mind. It's the fact that conditioning is supposed to be real, it was _supposed_ to help him realize he was overdosing her and stop, yet he never realized it until it was too late, and failed a test of 'love'.
i read almost 50 comments here, none of them actually mentioned the natalie character. i think it's a movie with open endings, so almost all who've seen it can have their own interpretations. cheers.
I just read your comment, and I had included her in my comment. It's just more recent. On the other hand, it isn't really an open ending. He fakes and there is constant proof of that. If you want to check my comment, I explained it there.
@@lukaslakas6697 Really good comment. Natalie actually tells to the viewer that she knows "Lenny" is full of BS. She foreshadows that they have things in common and all we see her doing is telling lies and manipulating. She shows us that "Lenny" isn't much different.
I remember seeing this movie for the first time. It was on DVD which had 2 versions of the movie. One was the original theatrical version, and the other was an alternate version where they put all the scenes in chronological order. It was really helpful in understanding the movie.
Hi, I've just seen the film for the first time, and have immediately ordered the DVD in the hope the chronological version helps ! My problem has been brought up by other comments here, if he does have this form of amnesia, how does he keep remembering he has it ? The 'Sammy' tattoo puzzles me, why not have one saying, plainly, 'I have (whatever the adjective is) amnesia'. It's only one extra word !
@@ysgol3 isnt it cause he's lying to himself? if he said i dont have short term memory or whatever he'd probably remember what actually happened, instead he forces himself to remember the fake story, sammy's story
I've a condition that I can't understand that Christopher Nolan's movies. So I make my own theories. Because the movie is exactly what we understand in the first time but the more you think the more you get confused and Keep on introducing new theories every time. You see I have a condition...
He kept repeating for a year in that hotel. He's so close but he's just stuck in his head. He'll keep repeating this hotel diner, fardys bar, teddy, till he dies of old age. Sad.
Two things: 1. I personally don't believe he could have made up the Sammy story, since he wouldn't be able to remember all the details of such a complex story after his accident. After all, he always says he's not good on the phone, but tells that entire story start to finish over the phone. I think it's a true story, but maybe Teddy doesn't believe it and because he's manipulative, he also tries to convince Lenny it's his own story. Also, Teddy said they already killed the murder a year ago and he's been using Lenny since, so I think that is true and that his wife actually was killed during the murder scene. 2. I don't agree with the idea that the end suggests he's doomed to continue searching/killing John G's. I think Lenny realized he already got the guy, but he didn't aprove of Teddy using him, so he decided to make Teddy his last victim, Tatooing "Fact: license plate #..." means he could never be tricked again into killing another John G. because Teddy is the only one with that plate. So I think the very end, he imagines the tattoo 'I've done it' to symbolize the fact that he believes he's finally figured out a way to end the cycle of seeking vengeance for his wife. He just has to kill Teddy and have "proof"(his license plate tattoo) that it's done and no one else can manipulate him otherwise.
That sounds more generic and cliche, its more interesting if Lenny is just fucked up and killed his own wife & because he can't deal with it he invented the rest
Lenny (Sammy Jankis) tells a true story. His own story. He can't get rid of memories he doesn't want to have, so being his deeply ashamed and can't change it, he simply does the "I heard of a friend of a friend...." telling his own story in the third person. Like someone commented here, he can't deal with what he has done and makes up little twists that allow him to believe his own lie as if he was telling the truth. But there is one clear proof of all that: he constantly says he has this condition in which he can't generate new memories. That all he learned before the incident, like being able to tie his own shoes and such, is still there. While anything new, is gone in a glimpse. So... how can he remember he has this particular condition? It would be something new. He remembers he forgets. He is faking as much as he can to believe his own lies. He tries to make his lies come true and pushes that as hard as possible. Even if to do so he needs to kill his wife, swallow spit or shower in the room of someone who is after him and might try to kill him.
@@rixenjacob Because she did't mirror the world he wanted to build. She didn't buy his condition and she became an obstacle for Sammy (Lenny) to live in the world he wants to believe in when he closes his eyes. He had to kill her in order to "make believe" himself that his problem is real. A better and more clear example is when Norman Bates talks in his head with the voice of his mother saying "she" wouldn't even hurt a fly so everyone could see how harmless "she" was. He does whatever it takes to play the part he wants to play in life.
There was an attack in Lenny’s apartment but Lenny’s wife didn’t die, Lenny is convinced he has short term memory loss (but it is mental not physical - like Sammy - hence why he doesn’t pick up repetition). Lenny’s wife does have diabetes and he killed her with insulin shots when testing him like Sammy, he gets put in a home (like Sammy was after he killed his wife). Teddy is the cop that put Lenny in the home but as Lenny is still fixated on finding the “killer”, Teddy decides to help Lenny find the “killer” (who is actually just the second attacker so it is actually a real person hence why they know its a John G) with intentions of manipulating him to his own benefit (for example the 200 grand) with no risk to himself as Lenny wouldn’t be able to snitch - For Teddy its a win win as he is able to kill local drug dealers with the benefit of the money. Teddy took the photo of Lenny after they killed the first “John G” but there is no caption on it, and also took the 12 pages from the police report (I’m assuming that’s the part which says John G has been killed) making sure Lenny didn’t know the backstory to it - Teddy thought this would make sure that Lenny wouldn’t kill him and its a safety as teddy’s real name is John G (Teddy uses he name Teddy so that Lenny doesn’t get confused into killing him). Lenny realises that he can’t even trust his memory before the “incident” due to Teddy making his kill this guy and Telling him Sammy doesn’t exist as Lenny knows him - making him doubt his own memory and not knowing whether the John G has been killed or not and whether he actually killed his wife, he gets Teddy’s licence tattoos as a fact to make sure that he doesn’t go for any more John G’s and he can be at peace (hence the last picture of him and his wife with “I did it”) - this is also revenge against Teddy for manipulation. Lenny goes to the Bar as he find the coaster in John G’s Car (John G was Nathalie’s boyfriend) Nathalie realises that Lenny really can’t make new memories so takes Lenny to her house and manipulates him as she realises she can use him to kill Dodd (Dodd is the person that John G was getting the drugs for; the person who gave John G the 200 grand; Nathalie therefore owes Dodd a lot of money/the drugs). She then helps Lenny find Teddy as a thank you (Nathalie thinks that Lenny Killed Dodd but he didn’t actually do it - Lenny took the polaroid of Dodd tied up which makes Nathalie think that Lenny killed him). Dodd is chasing Lenny because he beat him up in his apartment but forgot why and let him go. Revenge is Lenny’s “purpose to live” but after he kills the second John G he realises that he is now just looking for the resolution for the conflict.
You are mistaken is several points. Jimmy Grants wasn't the real John G, neither was Teddy. Lenny haven't killed his wife, he remembers before the incident that she wasn't diabetics. The police report claims his wife died in the incident.
@@karonneevits513 Teddy said that that was a made up story cause he used it to get money from an insurance company, Lenny himself said memory was unreliable so once he had his condition he would not be able to tell the difference between the lies he created and lived in his past and the truth. He lived a lie before the incident and when his wife died, he still remembered that but to him that story he fabricated was not his own, so to keep him from thinking it was his own life he created the character who had the same condition he now had but ultimately failed to control it. Tattooing the hand is where most people start because it is less painful than the torso, so it's clear that this was the first tattoo he got so that he'd never lose himself in any of his old lies. He needed to stay on the facts and not let any lie, past or present affect him. He ultimately fails in doing this but that's only because he actively manipulated himself by changing a small fact about Freddy. Once Freddy became the enemy, his real memories and lies began to mix and that's when he started to spiral out of control, eventually leading to the start of the film.
one thing that seemed to be overlooked in this video is the fact that every skilled manipulator in the movie completely showed their cards. Leonard admitted that teddy wasnt jon g but he was going to make him jon g. natalie admitted that she was using Leonard because she knew he wouldnt remember what she said. Due to this pattern i believe everything Teddy said to Leonard was true. it is more likely that he followed that pattern of, spilling all the beans to the guy that wont remember, rather than him being the one character who doesnt utilize Leonards disability in this way.
Satisfying commentary and explanation of an intelligent, clever, captivating 2000 Christopher Nolan film about memory. Memory is unreliable. It's a perception, not a record of what happened. Each time a memory is recalled it is altered with new perspectives and emotions.
Everything Teddy says to Leonard is true, I highly recommend watching the movie in chronological order, it is actually very easy to follow and its much easier to spot many, many clues about what is true and what is a lie.
Haha! What can I say, with a film like this there just isn't a definitive explanation. Often there isn't though, and I never like the idea of explicitly explaining the one "real" or "true" ending to a film. In my head I see these videos as Movie Endings Explored more than Explained.
@@marstonsneddon8692 oh most definitely:) Donnie Darko I think being my favorite of those 3. I love rewatchable films. Here's 3 for you, if you haven't already seen them, Primer, Triangle, and Time Crimes. All time travel films, with Primer being the most challenging.
@@marstonsneddon8692 I finally just bought Primer and put in on my Plex. I can see we like the same kind of films. Brick and 12 monkeys are excellent, and I'm a huge Nolan fan ever since seeing Memento in the theater. Did you ever see Southland Tales by Richard Kelly? Being a movie nut, I could talk about films all day :)
@@derekschoenike5685 haha I could as well. The only thing that irks me is the news that memento is being remade. How could you possibly improve on perfection?
A tattoo he never got to put on himself because Teddy wanted to continue manipulating him. Notice how the photo doesn't have a written description, unlike every other photo he keeps. Teddy kept him from writing anything on the photo.
@@toteispoe4 Leonard kept himself from doing so before given he could still use Teddy. Now that Teddy bluntly threw the truth in his face, he has to erase any memory of Teddy. And he starts by making that note "don't believe his lies". Leonard is faking. Faking so bad he does anything to believe his own lie. Cause he is actually Sammy Jankis.
@@proverbial4252 I think Leonard can't really fake. He lies to himself that he can function through repetition, but "faking" would have allowed him to avoid killing his wife with insulin, you know? Teddy calling Jankis a "con man" seemed a misunderstanding that something like what Leonard has could be "faked" after Leonard was able to absolve the insurance company of giving any coverage to Jankis. The cycle of searching for his wife's "killer" allows him the fantasy that he has some control and purpose.
@@proverbial4252 Leonard was denied coverage by the insurance company, which prompted his wife to do the insulin test. He established an insurance denial precedent with Jankis that was later used against him.
Something that becomes clear after watching is how the whole time Teddy is basically just trying to get Jimmy's car (the money in the boot (trunk)). 1. Says it's his car, but then plays it off like a joke. 2. Is in the car when Lenny leaves Nathalies. 3. Asks for the keys when Lenny says to follow him and Dodd. 4. (Before chronologically, but after in order shown), right after catching up with Lenny at the tattoo parlor, he asks for the keys to move the car around back. Also something else I like, The Discount Inn is in on it. Teddy is the one who books the room for Lenny but never tells him that his room has been changed. Then when the owner makes the mistake he pretends he is just scamming him small time and tells him to keep his receipts. I take that to mean he knows Lenny has found John G multiple times now but sucks at writing it down. Every new room is a new start over.
Another thing is that every main character in the movie used him. His wife used his amnesia to kill herself,teddy used him for drugs and all,Natalie also used him,Even the motel receptionist used his amnesia to rent him two rooms.
@@mikaelemafi4618 (my take:) I do feel like that in the end, Leonard will end up caught and turned in to the psych ward, *because the only reason he's on the loose killing John G.s is because a literal cop is covering his tracks.* At the very beginning of the movie, he took a picture of Teddy (the cop's) dead body. I like to believe he captioned it saying 'I've killed him'. He had no reason not to, since he'd forgotten the truth *_and also forgotten the fact that he wanted to suppress it out of guilt._* Of course, if we want to believe he doesn't keep the picture he took of Teddie's dead body, who's to say. That isn't in the movie. But I think he'll keep it. In the end, with or without functioning memories, Leonard didn't have the human nature of a killer. I don't think he's so depraved, that he would rather continue killing people instead of living a life without purpose. When he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' he wasn't lying to himself just to continue living a narrative of righteous revenge, _he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' because he wanted to live continue living a narrative of righteous revenge _*_one last time._* Sammy was some conman who was caught, because it *should have been possible for him to be conditioned to not touch electified objects.* But when Leonard was injured and developed anterograde amnesia, it was the real deal. This was why *Leonard's wife kept testing him- but the conditioning didn't work even though it was supposed to, since his brain damage was real.* But his wife, unable to let him go, kept trying the conditioning tests that were supposed to work... and it ultimately killed her. This was where, despite his memory being in fragments, was consumed with guilt. *_Rather than admit to himself that the conditioning failed even though it should've worked, and accept he overdosed his wife, he planted fake memories into himself, _* such as: - His wife had died after the rape attempt (to hide the fact that he killed her) - The police didn't believe there was was a second person called John G. at the scene (untrue, Gammel the cop believed him and even helped him find and kill him) - Sammy wasn't a conman, and had a wife who died tragically after testing him (to hide the fact that Sammy was his cover, his excuse, and to push the reality of his wife's death onto a stranger) Honestly, I don't think anyone who died was completely unaware that they were playing with fire. The rapists deserved everything they had coming. Fuck them. - The rapist who actually did that to Leonard's wife, and fucked up Leonard's mind and life? Wish he'd died more painfully. - The original John G. also had it coming for aiding rape and assaulting Leonard. Rot in hell. - Leonard's wife should have known that escalating the tests and forcing Leonard to magically get rid of his brain damage wasn't very feasible. If the unreliable memories are to be trusted, she was starving him and screaming at him to snap out of it. She knew her life was at risk when she tried the insulin shots. I'd think of it as an aided suicide, where she used her own husband to end her life, ignoring the fact that her death would devastate a man who was already suffering from brain damage. She was the one light in his life... but she decided she'd rather die than live with the mentally crippled version of him. It's painful to accept, but they just weren't meant to grow old together. - the Jimmy drug dealer guy knew that Leonard was essentially a manipulated hitman. He knew he'd be in danger. I do think his death was a little unfortunate. It's hard to wish death on someone even if they deal drugs and extort people, because he was precious to others (like Natalie). - Gammel the cop deserved to die. He did help Leonard, but he was essentially the reason Leonard remained trapped in a neverending cycle of revenge. He knew the truth, he had evidence, he could have ended it, but it's very likely that he's the reason Leonard never had a tattoo of 'I've taken revenge' tatooed on his chest. He used Leonard like a hired gun without the money, and paid for it with his life. This sounds cheesy, but I think the movie shows that while perception and reality itself is at the mercy of memories and what we desperately want to believe in order to believe, there's something about human emotions that even memories can't change. The people in this movie are deeply flawed, but choose to show compassion for no real reason or profit- simply because they had the luxury of doing so. In the same way, Leonard is just someone who really, really loved his wife. The brain damage had made him exactly like Sammy, but killing his own wife was the reason he changed so drastically from a patient who was all but a vegetable babied by his wife, to someone ruthlessly organized and driven - just to forget. Leonard just wanted to kill Teddy, and end the cycle of being meaninglessly exploited while he meaninglessly sought revenge. Would he try to forget again if he was told the whole truth again? Yes, probably. But I don't think he would let himself chase random people. Most likely, he'd construct a puzzle much harder to solve, so he was left scrambling after the breadcrumbs he left for himself for the rest of his life. Because ultimately, it isn't the guilt of killing his wife that's the worst thing in his mind. It's the fact that conditioning is supposed to be real, it was _supposed_ to help him realize he was overdosing her and stop, yet he never realized it until it was too late, and failed a test of 'love'.
He killed his wife. He was Sammy. That's why the dying guy called him Sammy. That's why it was Pierce in the institution at the end for a single frame between two people passing. Also, he worked in insurance, so he's a liar.
This is the Mona Lisa of film making, saw it twice in theaters. Christopher is going to adapt his brother Jonathan's short story, into a film named 'Memento', cannot wait to see it!
Here’s my take: Sammy jankis IS Leonard. The flash shot of Sammy in the chair that swaps to Leonard is proof. Also, the scene with the “Ive done it” tat, I saw that differently. I saw that he had killed the guy who attacked them, got the tat so he would remember it ( if you remember, there is a picture of him pointing to that exact spot, but the tat wasn’t there yet. Indicating that’s where he wanted the tat to go. Also he has a big smile, indicating he’s happy he found & killed the guy). As far as his wife, the Sammy jankis story is how he killed her. SHE was the one who couldn’t accept his condition & SHE was the one who “tested” Leonard. Remember the “tests” that were administered to Sammy. Leonard said that there was a way to remember things even with his condition:Repetition! THATS why Leonard repeats the Sammy Jankis story to everyone he meets. Because it’s actually Leonard’s story, but he made himself believe it was someone else’s story. He is essentially telling everyone, including himself, what actually happened, but just changing the name of the main person, so no one, not even Leonard, would know that it was Leonard that killed his wife.
Because he went to therapy and learned a system based on routine which makes his possible. The writings are part of the system, making him fit in the reality and even do day to day stuff.
This condition has only happened one time .... I think. That pt didnt know they had the condition. But for the sake of the movie...needed to be able to tell people.
I don't think Leonard's perpetual "cycle of vengeance" could go on forever. I'm quite sure that without Teddy covering his back, the police would eventually catch up to Leonard and take him into custody, ultimately resulting in him being placed in some sort of mental hospital. An amnesiac can't just go around aimlessly hunting people with no consequences.
This YT video has got multiple important points wrong.These 3 pointers should make the movie quite clear: 1. It wasn't the burglar that killed his wife, but Lenny himself did with the insulin shots. 2. OFC Lenny thinks she was murdered because the last thing he registers a memory is when she is laying motionless on the bathroom floor looking at him. He has concluded that she must be dying (which she isn't, she just lays still after a what has happened to her and the perp is still in the house). 3. Lenny manipulated his own clues so he would kill Teddy, because Teddy is using him to kill drugdealers and making money off of it. Lenny wants to STOP the killing, NOT to keep on killing as the guy in this YT-video says. He can't continue killing because the license plate tattooed on his thigh now belongs to a DEAD John G.
Dawei Zhao well written post. 2 faults i see here: Error 1: Your point no3 doesnt make much sense because if he would like to continue killing ppl, why would he tattoo a soon-to-be-dead guys car licence plate to his thigh stopping him from ever finding any more john g’s? That tattoo will prove the guy is dead. Error 2: It was not his uncouncious that told him sammy. It was the guy that he was dragging down the stairs. Rewatch that part and you’ll see.
Lenny didn't kill his wife , Sammy killed his wife and Sammy is not Lenny , Lenny remembers Sammy jankis story clearly because it happened before the incident
@@manojbhargav320 No, the OP is right. Nolan would not have included the flashes of Leonard injecting the needle into his wife's thigh or of him sitting in the chair in Sammy's place in the hospital otherwise.
@Dawei Zhao Sounds too cliche, it's more interesting if Lenny is fucked up enough to kill his wife and then just invents the whole thing. Far more realistic
Leonard doesnt want to get out of this cycle, he wants to continue his revenge, he wants to save others, he found meaning in revenge of everyone whos trying to manipulate him.
I'm afraid that ain't right, for all of the 6 facts tattooed on his thighs (especially the car license number) will lead to Teddy, he is not able to kill again unless he strips off his skin
I'm still confused. The way I've always interpreted it, was that there was an original break in. His wife didn't die, but Leonard had a brain injury hence the memory loss. Then Leonard killed his own wife, who was diabetic and was admitted into the mental institute as a result. He then creates a new reality for himself. That his wife got murdered and he has to find her killer. He then meets Teddy and goes on a never ending search for his wife's killer. Teddy then starts using Leonard for his own monetary gains as a crooked cop. Can anyone confirm?
(late, but here's my take:) I do feel like that in the end, Leonard will end up caught and turned in to the psych ward, *because the only reason he's on the loose killing John G.s is because a literal cop is covering his tracks.* At the very beginning of the movie, he took a picture of Teddy (the cop's) dead body. I like to believe he captioned it saying 'I've killed him'. He had no reason not to, since he'd forgotten the truth *_and also forgotten the fact that he wanted to suppress it out of guilt._* Of course, if we want to believe he doesn't keep the picture he took of Teddie's dead body, who's to say. That isn't in the movie. But I think he'll keep it. In the end, with or without functioning memories, Leonard didn't have the human nature of a killer. I don't think he's so depraved, that he would rather continue killing people instead of living a life without purpose. When he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' he wasn't lying to himself just to continue living a narrative of righteous revenge, _he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' because he wanted to live continue living a narrative of righteous revenge _*_one last time._* Sammy was some conman who was caught, because it *should have been possible for him to be conditioned to not touch electified objects.* But when Leonard was injured and developed anterograde amnesia, it was the real deal. This was why *Leonard's wife kept testing him- but the conditioning didn't work even though it was supposed to, since his brain damage was real.* But his wife, unable to let him go, kept trying the conditioning tests that were supposed to work... and it ultimately killed her. This was where, despite his memory being in fragments, was consumed with guilt. *_Rather than admit to himself that the conditioning failed even though it should've worked, and accept he overdosed his wife, he planted fake memories into himself, _* such as: - His wife had died after the rape attempt (to hide the fact that he killed her) - The police didn't believe there was was a second person called John G. at the scene (untrue, Gammel the cop believed him and even helped him find and kill him) - Sammy wasn't a conman, and had a wife who died tragically after testing him (to hide the fact that Sammy was his cover, his excuse, and to push the reality of his wife's death onto a stranger) Honestly, I don't think anyone who died was completely unaware that they were playing with fire. The rapists deserved everything they had coming. Fuck them. - The rapist who actually did that to Leonard's wife, and fucked up Leonard's mind and life? Wish he'd died more painfully. - The original John G. also had it coming for aiding rape and assaulting Leonard. Rot in hell. - Leonard's wife should have known that escalating the tests and forcing Leonard to magically get rid of his brain damage wasn't very feasible. If the unreliable memories are to be trusted, she was starving him and screaming at him to snap out of it. She knew her life was at risk when she tried the insulin shots. I'd think of it as an aided suicide, where she used her own husband to end her life, ignoring the fact that her death would devastate a man who was already suffering from brain damage. She was the one light in his life... but she decided she'd rather die than live with the mentally crippled version of him. It's painful to accept, but they just weren't meant to grow old together. - the Jimmy drug dealer guy knew that Leonard was essentially a manipulated hitman. He knew he'd be in danger. I do think his death was a little unfortunate. It's hard to wish death on someone even if they deal drugs and extort people, because he was precious to others (like Natalie). - Gammel the cop deserved to die. He did help Leonard, but he was essentially the reason Leonard remained trapped in a neverending cycle of revenge. He knew the truth, he had evidence, he could have ended it, but it's very likely that he's the reason Leonard never had a tattoo of 'I've taken revenge' tatooed on his chest. He used Leonard like a hired gun without the money, and paid for it with his life. This sounds cheesy, but I think the movie shows that while perception and reality itself is at the mercy of memories and what we desperately want to believe in order to believe, there's something about human emotions that even memories can't change. The people in this movie are deeply flawed, but choose to show compassion for no real reason or profit- simply because they had the luxury of doing so. In the same way, Leonard is just someone who really, really loved his wife. The brain damage had made him exactly like Sammy, but killing his own wife was the reason he changed so drastically from a patient who was all but a vegetable babied by his wife, to someone ruthlessly organized and driven - just to forget. Leonard just wanted to kill Teddy, and end the cycle of being meaninglessly exploited while he meaninglessly sought revenge. Would he try to forget again if he was told the whole truth again? Yes, probably. But I don't think he would let himself chase random people. Most likely, he'd construct a puzzle much harder to solve, so he was left scrambling after the breadcrumbs he left for himself for the rest of his life. Because ultimately, it isn't the guilt of killing his wife that's the worst thing in his mind. It's the fact that conditioning is supposed to be real, it was _supposed_ to help him realize he was overdosing her and stop, yet he never realized it until it was too late, and failed a test of 'love'.
The sad thing is, Lenny would never, ever know the truth, ever again. All the truth including him already killed John G, his wife actually survived the incident, and he killed his own wife, nobody knows about them anymore now that Teddy already gone and Lenny, well, will never remember them.
I just watched this movie and I love how the story is written and how you can decipher and decode it in many different ways. The only story that comes close to this in my opinion is Her Story which is a game where you gotta piece together the story by watching little tapes out of order. I find that approach in a stories narrative very fascinating. I am going to be thinking about this film for awhile
This is the first movie that when watching, I just stopped thinking and just let myself be shown the rest of the movie because I just couldn't follow it anymore. I've honestly never had that before
If you violate the "suspension of disbelief" law, then people will have a hard time lying to you, even for entertainment purposes. ALL fantasy IS, by definition, a lie. Then think about the author, arranging video sequences into a mosaic, consciously choosing to sometimes have them contradict each other, BW timeline running forward, color running backward, until they meet.
And one more thing I don't get is that how does he know that he's supposed to take camera pictures or even look at the pictures that he takes, he should forget that too?
kalls2k he has the whole poster thing with pictures attached to it and he carries a photo album in his pockets at all times so that’s probably how he remembers.
There is nothing more vexing than an open ended movie. Sometimes, you just want to know what the bloody ending was supposed to be in the directors mind
This movie is so hard to dissect, i have made many explanations in my mind that i think would pan out, but every time i am somewhere close to concluding that the explanation is true, I remember something happening in the movie which just makes me question everything before that point.
(late, but here's my take:) I do feel like that in the end, Leonard will end up caught and turned in to the psych ward, *because the only reason he's on the loose killing John G.s is because a literal cop is covering his tracks.* At the very beginning of the movie, he took a picture of Teddy (the cop's) dead body. I like to believe he captioned it saying 'I've killed him'. He had no reason not to, since he'd forgotten the truth *_and also forgotten the fact that he wanted to suppress it out of guilt._* Of course, if we want to believe he doesn't keep the picture he took of Teddie's dead body, who's to say. That isn't in the movie. But I think he'll keep it. In the end, with or without functioning memories, Leonard didn't have the human nature of a killer. I don't think he's so depraved, that he would rather continue killing people instead of living a life without purpose. When he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' he wasn't lying to himself just to continue living a narrative of righteous revenge, _he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' because he wanted to live continue living a narrative of righteous revenge _*_one last time._* Sammy was some conman who was caught, because it *should have been possible for him to be conditioned to not touch electified objects.* But when Leonard was injured and developed anterograde amnesia, it was the real deal. This was why *Leonard's wife kept testing him- but the conditioning didn't work even though it was supposed to, since his brain damage was real.* But his wife, unable to let him go, kept trying the conditioning tests that were supposed to work... and it ultimately killed her. This was where, despite his memory being in fragments, was consumed with guilt. *_Rather than admit to himself that the conditioning failed even though it should've worked, and accept he overdosed his wife, he planted fake memories into himself, _* such as: - His wife had died after the rape attempt (to hide the fact that he killed her) - The police didn't believe there was was a second person called John G. at the scene (untrue, Gammel the cop believed him and even helped him find and kill him) - Sammy wasn't a conman, and had a wife who died tragically after testing him (to hide the fact that Sammy was his cover, his excuse, and to push the reality of his wife's death onto a stranger) Honestly, I don't think anyone who died was completely unaware that they were playing with fire. The rapists deserved everything they had coming. Fuck them. - The rapist who actually did that to Leonard's wife, and fucked up Leonard's mind and life? Wish he'd died more painfully. - The original John G. also had it coming for aiding rape and assaulting Leonard. Rot in hell. - Leonard's wife should have known that escalating the tests and forcing Leonard to magically get rid of his brain damage wasn't very feasible. If the unreliable memories are to be trusted, she was starving him and screaming at him to snap out of it. She knew her life was at risk when she tried the insulin shots. I'd think of it as an aided suicide, where she used her own husband to end her life, ignoring the fact that her death would devastate a man who was already suffering from brain damage. She was the one light in his life... but she decided she'd rather die than live with the mentally crippled version of him. It's painful to accept, but they just weren't meant to grow old together. - the Jimmy drug dealer guy knew that Leonard was essentially a manipulated hitman. He knew he'd be in danger. I do think his death was a little unfortunate. It's hard to wish death on someone even if they deal drugs and extort people, because he was precious to others (like Natalie). - Gammel the cop deserved to die. He did help Leonard, but he was essentially the reason Leonard remained trapped in a neverending cycle of revenge. He knew the truth, he had evidence, he could have ended it, but it's very likely that he's the reason Leonard never had a tattoo of 'I've taken revenge' tatooed on his chest. He used Leonard like a hired gun without the money, and paid for it with his life. This sounds cheesy, but I think the movie shows that while perception and reality itself is at the mercy of memories and what we desperately want to believe in order to believe, there's something about human emotions that even memories can't change. The people in this movie are deeply flawed, but choose to show compassion for no real reason or profit- simply because they had the luxury of doing so. In the same way, Leonard is just someone who really, really loved his wife. The brain damage had made him exactly like Sammy, but killing his own wife was the reason he changed so drastically from a patient who was all but a vegetable babied by his wife, to someone ruthlessly organized and driven - just to forget. Leonard just wanted to kill Teddy, and end the cycle of being meaninglessly exploited while he meaninglessly sought revenge. Would he try to forget again if he was told the whole truth again? Yes, probably. But I don't think he would let himself chase random people. Most likely, he'd construct a puzzle much harder to solve, so he was left scrambling after the breadcrumbs he left for himself for the rest of his life. Because ultimately, it isn't the guilt of killing his wife that's the worst thing in his mind. It's the fact that conditioning is supposed to be real, it was _supposed_ to help him realize he was overdosing her and stop, yet he never realized it until it was too late, and failed a test of 'love'.
I really struggled to grasp this movie and found it pretty hard to follow. However, i think if i could get answers to the following two questions id ultimately be able to determine what really happened. 1) How could he remember his condition if he couldnt remember anything after his accident? -is this in itself a hint that his condition could be fake... or that its in his own head maybe intentionally for some reason regarding his wife. Teddy tells us the sammy story is a lie but Lenny remembers the truth before his accident so he should remember that correctly unless theres a motive not too. 2) In the last scene with teddy, what was truthful and what was a lie -Sammy Jankins being a con man/not having a wife -Lenny’s wife being diabetic -Lenny killing his wife with insulin because of his condition -Lenny killed the guys who raped and killed his wife years ago Surely, this information cannot all be true, as it wouldnt make sense as a whole. But from what i gathered, you cant trust Lenny or Teddy to be telling the truth as they both might have alternate motives for stating/denying these facts. Maybe the movie was made to keep you wondering, just like our main character Lenny does. I can appreciate that, but then imo i think they then left it way too wide open for interpretation without at least somehow slightly nudging us towards whether or not everything Lenny seemed to remember before his accident was accurate or if some was not. If they did, then it went right over my head.
Great points - to me it's a cop out if Nolan left 'everything' uncertain in that everything could be a lie or a memory failure. I do realise that this is how life often is, but this is a movie, we do need, to use your word, 'nudging' in some direction, I'd say we're entitled to it having chosen to watch the film ! I saw the film for the first time today and have immediately ordered the DVD in the hope that the chronological version will be of assistance. (My own hunch is that Lenny is really Sammy, and the tattoo is a simple reminder of that which somehow makes him remember his condition, but then again how could he, having the condition, remember his own new name since he would have invented it after the injury ? Oh dear......)
I just noticed something while watching the film and nobody seems to be interested in it. Lenny was talking on the phone with a cop and the cop told him he was coming. When Lenny goes down he finds Teddy, who maybe was just waiting for him to come down so he could give to Lenny his next person to kill (the drug dealer). But when Lenny goes down he ask "Officer xxx?" (something along those lines, i don't remember correctly). Teddy looks confused at first but then he says "yeah" and bring Lenny outside, and not only that but he tells him to write down his name as "Teddy" and not "Officer" or "Captain". Could that mean anything to the story?
Maybe but also in that scene he looks at the guy at the front desk for a split second to ensure he doesn’t look at teddy when asked if he’s “cop xxx”. And when teddy and Lenny are at the abounded house, teddy tells him that the drug dealers use the front office guy at the motel to mislead anyone asking for Lenny or whatever he said
Here’s something to take note of: If he can’t remember anything after the incident how the hell can he remember that he has a condition? The condition happened after the incident how can he remember that he has it? Also when he was looking a jimmys picture in natalies how’s in one frame you can see him with a mustache and in another he’s without one.
You just gained you a subscription. I've ALWAYS said his wife isn't dead, he's made the entire thing up and she's still here. The final scene proves this out. He has the new tattoo, and his (dead) wife! Thank you for the video. Fantastic work!
10:01 the picture that teddy claims he took after Leonard murdered his wife’s killer, he is pointing to the same spot where the tattoo “I’ve done it” is on his chest.
I saw a diagram/organigram/mind map about Memento online somewhere and it's incredible how the beginning and the end of the film revert back to the middle. A mind fuck of note. One of Nolan's best next to the Prestige.
A couple of things that are never explained: -How does he remember he has the condition? Yes he has "remember Sammy tattoed" and other tattoes that explain the situation, but he doesnt always look at them and yet explains his condition within seconds -He claims he cant learn anything new. But at the beginning he says "You learn to trust your own handwritting" and that "Notes are unreliable, tattoeing them is better". He also always checks the drawers and assume they should be empty, except the Bible. All this things he learned outside of his condition. And of course the biggest unexplained answer, how does he know the name "John G". Its not like the 2nd attacker told him, his name. Yet he somehow has that "clue"...
I suppose he just wants to remember the stuff that fulfill his daydream reality and ignore the ones that inhibit him from forming this plan of chasing the killer.
I think that would be what he referred to with Sammy. How he couldn’t be conditioned but Lenny could be. Going off of his instincts. Also his handwriting would be the same from before the injury so that would be easily recognizable.
There’s a part where Leonard tells Teddy that photos are just as good as memories, because memories can’t be trusted that much either. That they can’t hold up in witness testimony. I think that line is a big clue that Leonard’s memory isn’t as good as he thinks. I think another big clue is when remembering Sammy Jankis, that he notes the problem is psychological, not an effect of his trauma. And through out the movie says “he never said he was faking it.” He wants to believe it’s real. Maybe out of guilt for what transpired. As he said he feels guilty. If it’s psychological, and wasn’t trauma related then subconsciously, it’s like he copies Sammy’s condition as a punishment on himself for not helping him and his family. He wants to be the good guy and right the wrongs. All of them.
I was born with the same memory loss that Sammy has. My director showed me this movie. The portrayal of this condition is so accurate it was actually painful to watch. Also, watching this movie with no short term memory is a confusing and wild experience 😂
My husband had temporary amnesia after a skiing accident. Watching this movie freaked him out because he hated that feeling that he should know something but can't remember it.
one of my all time favorite movies. Ironically this film is a key to remembering a certain time in my life. I first saw this RIGHT before September 11. I was obsessed with this film and it's score. I was watching it almost daily and then woke up Tuesday morning to the horrible events of that morning. The score for MEMENTO became a score for my life and the horrible reality of that time.
That’s just what the movie is, it’s like life, because once you admit there’s a few ways something could have happened, and that life branches, it’s like, endless possibilities
Anybody else see the similarities to "Of Mice and Men," with our characters Lenny and Lenny? And of course from a great show "The Mentalist," The antagonist Red John and John G? Brutal murder that sets the protagonist on a seemingly endless quest for revenge that never satisfies.
Jefin K Saji 1. Do you mean the round card? He found it in his pocket which actually is Jimmy’s. He took Jimmy’s clothes off and his car when he killed him. That’s why when he was in the parking lot outside the bar Natalie confused him with Jimmy. He was driving his car.
Jefin K Saji There is no true answer to the second question. We can only guess why but we van never know for sure. They probably met through Teddy. Because before Lenny kills him, Jimmy tells him that he remembers him and asks where Teddy is.
1) He found the coaster in his jacket pocket, which was actually Jimmy's Jacket, who was Natalie's boyfriend. 2) Leonard told everybody about Sammy and he had already met Jimmy.
There is a problem though. Teddy tells Lenny that story of Sammy gets different and gets bigger everytime he tells it. Just like in Usual Suspects we won't be able to know how much of the story was true, how much of it was Sammy's story and how much of it was the story of Lenny himself.
The map in the DVD extras and in the Memento website had A LOT of photos of a LOT of crime scenes pinned to the city map. He had been at this for a while.
I don't remember his wife testing him, she was advised he was faking and she was pitting her life against his will to keep lying thinking he'll surely drop character, she was crying and shocked because she thought he was willing to kill her to keep the charade going.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 83 วันนี้!! คู่เอก "พันฤทธิ์ vs ซุปเปอร์บอล วันของโอม MBK"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1b4pkKHa_Fk/mqdefault.jpg)
*You should do Memento next.*
You need to remember Sammy Jankis...
@ He was joking lol
@ If you say so! lol
🤣 genius
@ someone needs to give your comment more recognition 👍
Whatam I doing..oh..am chasing this guy..oops..no he is chasing me
I just finished watching it, and I laughed so fking hard at that moment,I rewinded to watch it 10 times
😂😂👌
@@krishtandon7212 yeh it's a classic line..Chris Nolan this movie made his career..such an underrated movie... Your John g..ok..u can be my John g..I have to believe when my eyes are closed the world's still there..is it still there....yip..now what was I away to do
Favourite line! 😂
@@jamestaylor8037 its an amazingly famous movie and iconic cult classic. not underrated at all. anyone who loves movies is aware of “memento”
My favorite thing about this movie is how the backwards-facing segments reproduce the effect of Leonard's disability in the audience by making it very difficult to keep the events of the film in focus. It's so stressful to try and keep track that by the time a third of the film has passed, your brain just starts to let go of events as soon as they happen, and by the end, you're just as lost as Leonard. It's the most brilliant use of editing for psychological effect that I've ever seen in a film.
yeah and how you don’t remember the last picture of leonard, it’s like you’re experiencing what leonard is going through and you really just want to see how everything leads to the first scene. very interesting and artsy film
Pc0
Yes
I usually remember movies I have seen in details! but except this one hahaha! I saw its ad appearing somewhere again and I knew I had seen it before but I had no recollection of its details! and when this happens for any reason (Sometimes I try to forget them to enjoy them) I go back and watch that movie again. Now this time I noticed since I had no conclusion about the end of the movie that is why I could not remember it!---- But what you said occur to me too. I thought the director was testing our short memory to see if we would remember it if he tells the story backward! and until a moment that we start to lose it due the things you mentioned you start to feel his situation even better! I elaborately agree with you, this is a brilliant movie in so many ways, and as this video suggest it can have many different possibilities that I am so tired to think about them now hahahaa
I think the directors want us to make mementos to understand Memento.
“How am I supposed to heal if I can’t feel time?”
you wouldn't like a rock wouldn't feel whole yet it breaks really slow. So rock on!
also “ cant remember to forget you”
barsssss
What a line 😍
A dialogue which I never forgets
Just watched the movie
Might watch Memento for the first time soon
@Fred T Memento . I told you this before didn't I?
Good joke. I should comment on it.
@@sarahzd2645 probably. You see I have this condition
@@hood6089 you've told me that before..
@@honeymarku5 so you know about my condition?
I just watched the movie today. I think it was incredible and it made me question a lot of things. People say it's really good, I think I should watch it.
thts a good one. what is this about?
@@irvandjunaidyrahman6199 so I haven’t told you about my condition
so i have already met you?@@Jaime_110
I just finally watched this movies after YEARS of putting it off.. here’s my take
1. The attack on Lenny and his wife happened, she was raped but she survived the attack and he was left with his Amnesia. However he vows to find his wife’s attacker and keeps note of it on his body.. (the clip with his wife laying on his chest). His wife hopes he will snap out of his amnesia and move on but he never does, she just wants her husband back but she’s stuck with a man hell bent on finding the killer.
2. She tests him with the insulin shots and he ends up killing his own wife... the cops investigate it and figure out Lenny killed his wife and put him in a home (the clip of him on the mental institute)..
3. Lenny escapes and keeps trying to find his wife’s killer (due to amnesia Ofcourse)... he runs into Teddy who feels bad for him and helps him find his wife’s killer.. (the burglar who escaped) ..
4. Teddy hoped that helping him find and kill the burglar will finally give him peace and he hoped Lenny would at least remember that.. but he never does Ofcourse.. then begins the part where Teddy starts to use Lenny for deals, stealing money from drug dealers and using Lenny as his gunman.
5. The viscous cycle ends when the cop blabbed and bragged to John G about this guy who never remembers anything and is obviously great for drug deals as he will never snitch.. John G gets killed by Lenny but not before whispering Sammy to him.. indicating he knew of his condition.. Lenny finds out he’s being used and decides to end the cycle by killing Teddy.
This was the explanation i was looking for to match my own !!!
I had the exactly same notions as you but now i have confirmed nd now i am at peace.
Viper King Haha glad we on the same page bro. It was my first time watching the movie and I felt like everybody was missing what I was seeing
bongbrain07 hahaha you’re welcome ☺️😊🤗🤗
Finally the right response!
That's exactly how I see it, but didn't know how to put into words. Thanks lol It's crazy how people have so many different understandings of this movie, only goes to show how brilliant it really is. It's rare when movie makes you think like that
However you look at it, Memento is depressing.
I thought it was backwards
it's so fucking sad.
@@thomassalas5191 the direction of movie is opposite to the direction of chronology
Absolutely. The atmosphere of the movie feels so tragic. It's like you've lost yourself and you can't ever find yourself and your place in the world.
depressed is “desserts” backwards... oh, wait
Chris Nolan actually turned all of us to a Lenny, Why? We've all watched this movie multiple times and we don't even aware of this and keep continuing to watch it
TRUE!
Wait, what movie?
@Tyler Durden He was joking
@@UnitedPacci wait, what joke ? .... nevermind. But you seen John G tho? 😕
@@bigboydownstairs9651 hold on let me check my tattoos. It's says I did it. Hold on what was your question again?
It is important to note that the "I've Done It" tattoo is not reversed as the others are. The others are done this way so that he may read them in the mirror. I think that this one is not reversed because he never had it tattooed. He is imagining it on his chest in this fantasy so naturally it would be placed so that he could read it clearly as an outside observer.
Yaa u r correct
Chad Patrick not all the tattoos on his chest are reversed
Great observation! Thanks
No. It's for us to read.
@@ChrisWhite.fishing the movie is told from Leonard's point of view, what he sees you see, what he reads you read.
most frustrating movie of all time. Amazing.
Other potential nominee might be 'Black mirror:bandersnatch' .
@@shamstabrezshaikh4202 not really man. Like, you have choices there and in Memento, you are forced to watch Lenny's story and perception of his life. I liked Bandersnatch but you can't compare it to Memento. Memento is a total mind crap
I would have agreed with this statement however........ I just watched "bird box" and i was livid! momento is a fantastic movie tho.
@@daxmj09 Yeah maybe. But still I think its a matter of taste.
@@shamstabrezshaikh4202, kindly explain what you mean by "matter of taste"
After watching this movie I have been truly mindf*cked
So has the academy. It was nominated for Best Orginal Screenplay
@@xander66644 nominated? .... I think American beauty won that year. This is way better than that.
dude, same, 4 years later haha
Got that pyscholohical vibe like shutter island wher the ending messes your mind
It was Joey Pantaliano (Teddy) who uttered the line "ignorance is bliss" in "The Matrix".
The shot where he is happy in the polaroid and pointing to his chest, is the exact same spot where at the end of the film where he imagines himself holding his wife; 'I've done it' is then tattooed ...
I took that last shot as Leonard being an unreliable narrator. His memories are not accurate (like all memories) and when confronted with the horrible truth, he decides to doom Teddy and continue the search forever.
@@cilkandmookies True but Teddy was a dick anyway, clearly using him
yep, thats nolan at his best
@@journey95far49 Not like it matters. Leonard is committed to finding and killing his wife's non existent killer regardless
After the insulin shot that lenny gave his wife , maybe she was the one who wrote "I've done it" on his chest in the last scene while slowly dying
On a larger scale, I think Nolan wants us to realize that we subconsciously adjust/tweak the memories that we have in order to fit our narratives. We have a plethora of memories both good and bad and naturally we must learn to live with them. However, when we reflect upon these memories, how we remember them constructs our sense of reality. That’s why sometimes the idea of something can sometimes be better than the actual thing and vice versa when it’s a negative memory. I think Nolan wants to draw our attention to how much our ego is involved when it comes to our memories.
Well said
Yes I agree, a beautifully deep message in my opinion which is also shown in Rashomon, which I highly recommend
This movie is a masterpiece, just watched it for the first time and I'm blown away by how great it was. I definitely agree with your last interpretation, Lenny is stuck in a cycle and won't be free from it because he doesn't want to accept the truth (he killed his own wife)
nope.
@@mcdude9578 then what he said truth about me
the funny thing is that you cannot even be sure because of how his memory works the story can be a complete lie from start to finish.
Just watch it 30 mins ago, at 5AM , didn't get it until I read about the firm logic that Nolan make. Such a outstanding art.....
Now, where was I ?
Yooo I just finished the movie like 10 minutes ago
Yeah same here. Finished movie 10 min before and still didn't get it. Amazing direction.
Just finished the movie now and holy shit was it amazing
About 10 minutes ago and i feel f-ed
U were about to hand me all your assets and money
I think the story might go like this: Leonard is Sammy himself. His wife was raped by 2 strangers. He shot 1, 1 hit him in the mirror. She survied. He got his short memories lost condition since then. He is the one who accidentally killed his wife by giving her too many insulin shots when she was testing him. The cops didn't trust him. He was sent to an institution. Although he had that condition, her death is too much to forget. He couldn't accept the fact that he killed his wife, so he made up the Sammy Jankins story and believed that his wife was killed that faithful night. He got out of the institution somehow. He was helped by Teddy to find the "John G" and he killed the real JG a year ago. After that, he has been used by Teddy to make dirty money from killing other JG. At the final scene, he knew he had been used for quite a long time. He set Teddy to be his new target. He killed Teddy. Maybe he will be caught after that.
kinda sounds like ShutterIsland
True
OR there was no John G and police report was correct that the Guy who Leo shot was also the same guy who hit him in his head. The police report has missing pages and crossed out words to hide the fact that his wife survived.
Memento's official website shows that she did survive, the very reason why Leo ended up in a mental institution is probably because of him killing his wife. he can easily do day to day stuff with his notes, there's no reason to keep him in there if he can function as a normal member of the society. He was in there because he killed his wife and that prompted the authorities to put him there.
This was best answer.
EDIT: I made a separate comment instead with further 3 short explanations that makes this movie quite clear and gets rid of the misunderstandings in this movie.
I agree. That's what I got from it
They showed him injecting her.. and then choosing to change his memory into him pinching her
Or Teddy was manipulating him and he was correcting the memory
@@mustang8206 Wow.
so he was sammy.
@@nclp1751 I think sammy really existed but sammy has no wife or short-term memory lost?
cuz teddy said "Sammy was a fraud, he dont hav and wife, but u do"
@@mustang8206 damn I never thought about it like that
The fact "I'VE DONE IT" isn't written backwards (for him to see in a mirror), is a clear giveaway that it's just a daydream, not a flashback.
Except only one tattoo is ever written backwards
@@mustang8206 Nope. Look again.
Find him and kill him is also NOT written backwards on his chest
yes that's what i thought
Interesting breakdown, but there's so many subtle details in the film which a lot of people either misinterpret or overlook altogether that point to a completely different conclusion, such as the one in the institution at 8:04 or Leonard's "I"s and "1"s looking identical, leading him to jot down the wrong license plate and eventually see it the way he believes it's supposed to be. Based on the evidence, the most logical conclusion is Leonard is faking his condition, just like Sammy. If he wasn't, he would have been able to learn through repetition, which is how Sammy was exposed. The fact he was staying at the Discount Inn for weeks and still didn't learn which way the door opens was a prime example
Another thing which a lot of people mix up is anterograde vs retrograde amnesia. Since Leonard is supposed to have anterograde amnesia, he can't remember things after the traumatic event, but he supposedly didn't remember major events such as his wife being diabetic or that Sammy was faking his condition because he didn't learn through repetition, things he should have remembered, but *chose* not to. Which is why he removed the pages from the police report about his wife surviving the assault among other things, so he can lie to himself enough to create his own reality. Truly an ingenious film, among the best I've ever seen
Great points! To add to it more, he somehow always remembers his condition, to check the drawers and that they should have a Bible, plus he says "you learn to trust your own handwritting" and that notes are unreliable, etc.
All indications, that he is learning some new things.
But I dont think his wife was actually diabetic. Notice that scene is in color. But the one where he is in the institution is in black and white. I think the black and white is what actually happened. He was in the institution, which is where learned about his condition and possible got his first tattoes.
But the wife being diabetic is a lie by Teddy. Otherwise why does Teddy say he thought Lenny would remember when they found the guy that killed his wife? He claims the guy doesnt exist, but also claims he did.. its a lie. Mixed with some truth...
@@matthowdy334 Thank you, you raise some interesting questions yourself. Some of this film is definitely subjective, what's certain though is his wife absolutely was diabetic and he did kill her with an overdose of insulin. He doesn't remember because like I said, he chooses not to, regardless of whether one believes he's faking it or not. Him killing his wife doesn't fit the whole John G narrative, which is why he removed the pages from the police report. He conditioned himself to believe she wasn't diabetic both as a way of protecting himself from the truth that he killed his own wife and to give himself a purpose to live now that she's gone. Teddy was actually being completely honest when he was explaining everything after Leonard killed Jimmy Grants. He even admitted, though not in detail, that he profits off of Leonard's "condition" by tracking down and killing drug dealers and other unsavory characters like Grants. I hope this helps you understand why Teddy says there is a "killer", even though the only killer in the film is Leonard. I'm not saying Teddy is generally a good guy for what he does and how he uses Leonard, but he does like Leonard and laid out the complete truth in that scene near the end of the film. There's no angle for him to lie about those things.
The black and white vs the color scenes have nothing to do with the truth. All it does is separate the same story in two different timelines, one forward, the other in reverse, and they eventually converge in the end. The part where we see Sammy in the institution, which we learn was really Leonard, just happened to fall into the black and white segment of the film.
@@SamAceRothstein Im not sure if its the color or bw parts but nearing the end of the movie he definitely gets a better grasp of everything and sees the whole picture for longer almost trying to show that its true what he figured out
(my take:)
I do feel like that in the end, Leonard will end up caught and turned in to the psych ward, *because the only reason he's on the loose killing John G.s is because a literal cop is covering his tracks.* At the very beginning of the movie, he took a picture of Teddy (the cop's) dead body. I like to believe he captioned it saying 'I've killed him'. He had no reason not to, since he'd forgotten the truth *_and also forgotten the fact that he wanted to suppress it out of guilt._*
Of course, if we want to believe he doesn't keep the picture he took of Teddie's dead body, who's to say. That isn't in the movie. But I think he'll keep it.
In the end, with or without functioning memories, Leonard didn't have the human nature of a killer. I don't think he's so depraved, that he would rather continue killing people instead of living a life without purpose. When he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' he wasn't lying to himself just to continue living a narrative of righteous revenge, _he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' because he wanted to live continue living a narrative of righteous revenge _*_one last time._*
Sammy was some conman who was caught, because it *should have been possible for him to be conditioned to not touch electified objects.* But when Leonard was injured and developed anterograde amnesia, it was the real deal. This was why *Leonard's wife kept testing him- but the conditioning didn't work even though it was supposed to, since his brain damage was real.*
But his wife, unable to let him go, kept trying the conditioning tests that were supposed to work... and it ultimately killed her.
This was where, despite his memory being in fragments, was consumed with guilt. *_Rather than admit to himself that the conditioning failed even though it should've worked, and accept he overdosed his wife, he planted fake memories into himself, _* such as:
- His wife had died after the rape attempt (to hide the fact that he killed her)
- The police didn't believe there was was a second person called John G. at the scene (untrue, Gammel the cop believed him and even helped him find and kill him)
- Sammy wasn't a conman, and had a wife who died tragically after testing him (to hide the fact that Sammy was his cover, his excuse, and to push the reality of his wife's death onto a stranger)
Honestly, I don't think anyone who died was completely unaware that they were playing with fire. The rapists deserved everything they had coming. Fuck them.
- The rapist who actually did that to Leonard's wife, and fucked up Leonard's mind and life? Wish he'd died more painfully.
- The original John G. also had it coming for aiding rape and assaulting Leonard. Rot in hell.
- Leonard's wife should have known that escalating the tests and forcing Leonard to magically get rid of his brain damage wasn't very feasible. If the unreliable memories are to be trusted, she was starving him and screaming at him to snap out of it. She knew her life was at risk when she tried the insulin shots. I'd think of it as an aided suicide, where she used her own husband to end her life, ignoring the fact that her death would devastate a man who was already suffering from brain damage. She was the one light in his life... but she decided she'd rather die than live with the mentally crippled version of him. It's painful to accept, but they just weren't meant to grow old together.
- the Jimmy drug dealer guy knew that Leonard was essentially a manipulated hitman. He knew he'd be in danger. I do think his death was a little unfortunate. It's hard to wish death on someone even if they deal drugs and extort people, because he was precious to others (like Natalie).
- Gammel the cop deserved to die. He did help Leonard, but he was essentially the reason Leonard remained trapped in a neverending cycle of revenge. He knew the truth, he had evidence, he could have ended it, but it's very likely that he's the reason Leonard never had a tattoo of 'I've taken revenge' tatooed on his chest. He used Leonard like a hired gun without the money, and paid for it with his life.
This sounds cheesy, but I think the movie shows that while perception and reality itself is at the mercy of memories and what we desperately want to believe in order to believe, there's something about human emotions that even memories can't change.
The people in this movie are deeply flawed, but choose to show compassion for no real reason or profit- simply because they had the luxury of doing so. In the same way, Leonard is just someone who really, really loved his wife. The brain damage had made him exactly like Sammy, but killing his own wife was the reason he changed so drastically from a patient who was all but a vegetable babied by his wife, to someone ruthlessly organized and driven - just to forget.
Leonard just wanted to kill Teddy, and end the cycle of being meaninglessly exploited while he meaninglessly sought revenge. Would he try to forget again if he was told the whole truth again? Yes, probably. But I don't think he would let himself chase random people. Most likely, he'd construct a puzzle much harder to solve, so he was left scrambling after the breadcrumbs he left for himself for the rest of his life.
Because ultimately, it isn't the guilt of killing his wife that's the worst thing in his mind. It's the fact that conditioning is supposed to be real, it was _supposed_ to help him realize he was overdosing her and stop, yet he never realized it until it was too late, and failed a test of 'love'.
Dude, I turn the knob the wrong way on my house and I don't have his condition. Or shit, maybe I do.
Guy pierce performance in this movie is one of the greatest ever on screen acting
I agree to this
i read almost 50 comments here, none of them actually mentioned the natalie character.
i think it's a movie with open endings, so almost all who've seen it can have their own interpretations. cheers.
Ikr! Natalie is a big character in this movie yet nobody includes her in theories.
I just read your comment, and I had included her in my comment. It's just more recent.
On the other hand, it isn't really an open ending.
He fakes and there is constant proof of that.
If you want to check my comment, I explained it there.
this movie is about manipulation and natalie clearly shows us that.
@@lukaslakas6697 Really good comment.
Natalie actually tells to the viewer that she knows "Lenny" is full of BS. She foreshadows that they have things in common and all we see her doing is telling lies and manipulating. She shows us that "Lenny" isn't much different.
First time last time watching this movie
I remember seeing this movie for the first time. It was on DVD which had 2 versions of the movie. One was the original theatrical version, and the other was an alternate version where they put all the scenes in chronological order. It was really helpful in understanding the movie.
Hi, I've just seen the film for the first time, and have immediately ordered the DVD in the hope the chronological version helps !
My problem has been brought up by other comments here, if he does have this form of amnesia, how does he keep remembering he has it ?
The 'Sammy' tattoo puzzles me, why not have one saying, plainly, 'I have (whatever the adjective is) amnesia'.
It's only one extra word !
@@ysgol3 isnt it cause he's lying to himself? if he said i dont have short term memory or whatever he'd probably remember what actually happened, instead he forces himself to remember the fake story, sammy's story
@@random_internaut Very possibly!!
I've a condition that I can't understand that Christopher Nolan's movies.
So I make my own theories. Because the movie is exactly what we understand in the first time but the more you think the more you get confused and Keep on introducing new theories every time. You see I have a condition...
“It’s easy to fool people who are fooling themselves”.
I’m still confused after watching this.
Count me in...😐😐
All dead, except nurse Natalie
Deadass. I have no clue what the hell actually happened.
He kept repeating for a year in that hotel. He's so close but he's just stuck in his head. He'll keep repeating this hotel diner, fardys bar, teddy, till he dies of old age. Sad.
@@peteocean2848 but he killed Teddy, right? So who does he suspect now as his wife's killer?
Two things: 1. I personally don't believe he could have made up the Sammy story, since he wouldn't be able to remember all the details of such a complex story after his accident. After all, he always says he's not good on the phone, but tells that entire story start to finish over the phone. I think it's a true story, but maybe Teddy doesn't believe it and because he's manipulative, he also tries to convince Lenny it's his own story. Also, Teddy said they already killed the murder a year ago and he's been using Lenny since, so I think that is true and that his wife actually was killed during the murder scene. 2. I don't agree with the idea that the end suggests he's doomed to continue searching/killing John G's. I think Lenny realized he already got the guy, but he didn't aprove of Teddy using him, so he decided to make Teddy his last victim, Tatooing "Fact: license plate #..." means he could never be tricked again into killing another John G. because Teddy is the only one with that plate. So I think the very end, he imagines the tattoo 'I've done it' to symbolize the fact that he believes he's finally figured out a way to end the cycle of seeking vengeance for his wife. He just has to kill Teddy and have "proof"(his license plate tattoo) that it's done and no one else can manipulate him otherwise.
That sounds more generic and cliche, its more interesting if Lenny is just fucked up and killed his own wife & because he can't deal with it he invented the rest
@@journey95far49 It's actually how it is. There is no mistake in that.
Lenny (Sammy Jankis) tells a true story. His own story.
He can't get rid of memories he doesn't want to have, so being his deeply ashamed and can't change it, he simply does the "I heard of a friend of a friend...." telling his own story in the third person.
Like someone commented here, he can't deal with what he has done and makes up little twists that allow him to believe his own lie as if he was telling the truth.
But there is one clear proof of all that: he constantly says he has this condition in which he can't generate new memories. That all he learned before the incident, like being able to tie his own shoes and such, is still there. While anything new, is gone in a glimpse.
So... how can he remember he has this particular condition?
It would be something new.
He remembers he forgets.
He is faking as much as he can to believe his own lies. He tries to make his lies come true and pushes that as hard as possible. Even if to do so he needs to kill his wife, swallow spit or shower in the room of someone who is after him and might try to kill him.
proverbial 42 Hey, love your theory man. However, I have a doubt: Why did Lenny kill his wife?
@@rixenjacob Because she did't mirror the world he wanted to build. She didn't buy his condition and she became an obstacle for Sammy (Lenny) to live in the world he wants to believe in when he closes his eyes.
He had to kill her in order to "make believe" himself that his problem is real.
A better and more clear example is when Norman Bates talks in his head with the voice of his mother saying "she" wouldn't even hurt a fly so everyone could see how harmless "she" was.
He does whatever it takes to play the part he wants to play in life.
There was an attack in Lenny’s apartment but Lenny’s wife didn’t die, Lenny is convinced he has short term memory loss (but it is mental not physical - like Sammy - hence why he doesn’t pick up repetition). Lenny’s wife does have diabetes and he killed her with insulin shots when testing him like Sammy, he gets put in a home (like Sammy was after he killed his wife). Teddy is the cop that put Lenny in the home but as Lenny is still fixated on finding the “killer”, Teddy decides to help Lenny find the “killer” (who is actually just the second attacker so it is actually a real person hence why they know its a John G) with intentions of manipulating him to his own benefit (for example the 200 grand) with no risk to himself as Lenny wouldn’t be able to snitch - For Teddy its a win win as he is able to kill local drug dealers with the benefit of the money. Teddy took the photo of Lenny after they killed the first “John G” but there is no caption on it, and also took the 12 pages from the police report (I’m assuming that’s the part which says John G has been killed) making sure Lenny didn’t know the backstory to it - Teddy thought this would make sure that Lenny wouldn’t kill him and its a safety as teddy’s real name is John G (Teddy uses he name Teddy so that Lenny doesn’t get confused into killing him). Lenny realises that he can’t even trust his memory before the “incident” due to Teddy making his kill this guy and Telling him Sammy doesn’t exist as Lenny knows him - making him doubt his own memory and not knowing whether the John G has been killed or not and whether he actually killed his wife, he gets Teddy’s licence tattoos as a fact to make sure that he doesn’t go for any more John G’s and he can be at peace (hence the last picture of him and his wife with “I did it”) - this is also revenge against Teddy for manipulation. Lenny goes to the Bar as he find the coaster in John G’s Car (John G was Nathalie’s boyfriend) Nathalie realises that Lenny really can’t make new memories so takes Lenny to her house and manipulates him as she realises she can use him to kill Dodd (Dodd is the person that John G was getting the drugs for; the person who gave John G the 200 grand; Nathalie therefore owes Dodd a lot of money/the drugs). She then helps Lenny find Teddy as a thank you (Nathalie thinks that Lenny Killed Dodd but he didn’t actually do it - Lenny took the polaroid of Dodd tied up which makes Nathalie think that Lenny killed him). Dodd is chasing Lenny because he beat him up in his apartment but forgot why and let him go. Revenge is Lenny’s “purpose to live” but after he kills the second John G he realises that he is now just looking for the resolution for the conflict.
Well said
Tattoo : read this when you have time
You are mistaken is several points. Jimmy Grants wasn't the real John G, neither was Teddy. Lenny haven't killed his wife, he remembers before the incident that she wasn't diabetics. The police report claims his wife died in the incident.
wtf i watched it and read this, this is confusing asf
very well said. like dammn thats crazy.
watched memento for first time in 2019 lol , nice
Right? I just saw it for the first time an hour ago and can't wrap my head around it.
@@gerudoking3180 he killed his own wife with insulin and had a imperfect memory as the last memory, as i understand
@@gerudoking3180 ya i just saw it too didnt like it was extremely confused the whole time
@@karonneevits513 Teddy said that that was a made up story cause he used it to get money from an insurance company, Lenny himself said memory was unreliable so once he had his condition he would not be able to tell the difference between the lies he created and lived in his past and the truth.
He lived a lie before the incident and when his wife died, he still remembered that but to him that story he fabricated was not his own, so to keep him from thinking it was his own life he created the character who had the same condition he now had but ultimately failed to control it.
Tattooing the hand is where most people start because it is less painful than the torso, so it's clear that this was the first tattoo he got so that he'd never lose himself in any of his old lies. He needed to stay on the facts and not let any lie, past or present affect him. He ultimately fails in doing this but that's only because he actively manipulated himself by changing a small fact about Freddy.
Once Freddy became the enemy, his real memories and lies began to mix and that's when he started to spiral out of control, eventually leading to the start of the film.
2020?
one thing that seemed to be overlooked in this video is the fact that every skilled manipulator in the movie completely showed their cards. Leonard admitted that teddy wasnt jon g but he was going to make him jon g. natalie admitted that she was using Leonard because she knew he wouldnt remember what she said. Due to this pattern i believe everything Teddy said to Leonard was true. it is more likely that he followed that pattern of, spilling all the beans to the guy that wont remember, rather than him being the one character who doesnt utilize Leonards disability in this way.
Satisfying commentary and explanation of an intelligent, clever, captivating 2000 Christopher Nolan film about memory. Memory is unreliable. It's a perception, not a record of what happened. Each time a memory is recalled it is altered with new perspectives and emotions.
Bruh it’s Sammy “Jankis” not “Jenkins.”
Here's a list of the 8 most important points about this movie which I think i remember:
1.
Everything Teddy says to Leonard is true, I highly recommend watching the movie in chronological order, it is actually very easy to follow and its much easier to spot many, many clues about what is true and what is a lie.
Memento showed us the perfect way to do the classic twist beginning.
I wouldn't mind if someone explained this movie to me. Now where was I? Oh yeah, I wouldn't mind if someone explained this movie to me.
Isn’t that John G btw?
Memento Ending explained
There is a million possible endings
Cheers mate
Haha! What can I say, with a film like this there just isn't a definitive explanation. Often there isn't though, and I never like the idea of explicitly explaining the one "real" or "true" ending to a film. In my head I see these videos as Movie Endings Explored more than Explained.
first movie I watched and I was surprised when the ending credits came out of nowhere😂
By far my favorite film of all time
Same. Have you checked out Se7en, Donnie Darko, and the Usual Suspects? These films all are somewhat similiar and are excellant.
@@marstonsneddon8692 oh most definitely:) Donnie Darko I think being my favorite of those 3. I love rewatchable films. Here's 3 for you, if you haven't already seen them, Primer, Triangle, and Time Crimes. All time travel films, with Primer being the most challenging.
@@marstonsneddon8692 I finally just bought Primer and put in on my Plex. I can see we like the same kind of films. Brick and 12 monkeys are excellent, and I'm a huge Nolan fan ever since seeing Memento in the theater. Did you ever see Southland Tales by Richard Kelly? Being a movie nut, I could talk about films all day :)
@@derekschoenike5685 haha I could as well. The only thing that irks me is the news that memento is being remade. How could you possibly improve on perfection?
@@marstonsneddon8692 yeah, I couldnt believe that when i read it.
9:59 he points to his chest where it would say "I've done it".
That Other Guy Oh damn! Nice catch!
A tattoo he never got to put on himself because Teddy wanted to continue manipulating him.
Notice how the photo doesn't have a written description, unlike every other photo he keeps. Teddy kept him from writing anything on the photo.
@@toteispoe4 Leonard kept himself from doing so before given he could still use Teddy. Now that Teddy bluntly threw the truth in his face, he has to erase any memory of Teddy. And he starts by making that note "don't believe his lies".
Leonard is faking.
Faking so bad he does anything to believe his own lie.
Cause he is actually Sammy Jankis.
@@proverbial4252 I think Leonard can't really fake. He lies to himself that he can function through repetition, but "faking" would have allowed him to avoid killing his wife with insulin, you know?
Teddy calling Jankis a "con man" seemed a misunderstanding that something like what Leonard has could be "faked" after Leonard was able to absolve the insurance company of giving any coverage to Jankis.
The cycle of searching for his wife's "killer" allows him the fantasy that he has some control and purpose.
@@proverbial4252 Leonard was denied coverage by the insurance company, which prompted his wife to do the insulin test.
He established an insurance denial precedent with Jankis that was later used against him.
Something that becomes clear after watching is how the whole time Teddy is basically just trying to get Jimmy's car (the money in the boot (trunk)).
1. Says it's his car, but then plays it off like a joke.
2. Is in the car when Lenny leaves Nathalies.
3. Asks for the keys when Lenny says to follow him and Dodd.
4. (Before chronologically, but after in order shown), right after catching up with Lenny at the tattoo parlor, he asks for the keys to move the car around back.
Also something else I like, The Discount Inn is in on it. Teddy is the one who books the room for Lenny but never tells him that his room has been changed. Then when the owner makes the mistake he pretends he is just scamming him small time and tells him to keep his receipts. I take that to mean he knows Lenny has found John G multiple times now but sucks at writing it down. Every new room is a new start over.
Another thing is that every main character in the movie used him.
His wife used his amnesia to kill herself,teddy used him for drugs and all,Natalie also used him,Even the motel receptionist used his amnesia to rent him two rooms.
Was it a guarantee that he did kill his wife or was she strangle by the killer?
@@mikaelemafi4618 (my take:)
I do feel like that in the end, Leonard will end up caught and turned in to the psych ward, *because the only reason he's on the loose killing John G.s is because a literal cop is covering his tracks.* At the very beginning of the movie, he took a picture of Teddy (the cop's) dead body. I like to believe he captioned it saying 'I've killed him'. He had no reason not to, since he'd forgotten the truth *_and also forgotten the fact that he wanted to suppress it out of guilt._*
Of course, if we want to believe he doesn't keep the picture he took of Teddie's dead body, who's to say. That isn't in the movie. But I think he'll keep it.
In the end, with or without functioning memories, Leonard didn't have the human nature of a killer. I don't think he's so depraved, that he would rather continue killing people instead of living a life without purpose. When he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' he wasn't lying to himself just to continue living a narrative of righteous revenge, _he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' because he wanted to live continue living a narrative of righteous revenge _*_one last time._*
Sammy was some conman who was caught, because it *should have been possible for him to be conditioned to not touch electified objects.* But when Leonard was injured and developed anterograde amnesia, it was the real deal. This was why *Leonard's wife kept testing him- but the conditioning didn't work even though it was supposed to, since his brain damage was real.*
But his wife, unable to let him go, kept trying the conditioning tests that were supposed to work... and it ultimately killed her.
This was where, despite his memory being in fragments, was consumed with guilt. *_Rather than admit to himself that the conditioning failed even though it should've worked, and accept he overdosed his wife, he planted fake memories into himself, _* such as:
- His wife had died after the rape attempt (to hide the fact that he killed her)
- The police didn't believe there was was a second person called John G. at the scene (untrue, Gammel the cop believed him and even helped him find and kill him)
- Sammy wasn't a conman, and had a wife who died tragically after testing him (to hide the fact that Sammy was his cover, his excuse, and to push the reality of his wife's death onto a stranger)
Honestly, I don't think anyone who died was completely unaware that they were playing with fire. The rapists deserved everything they had coming. Fuck them.
- The rapist who actually did that to Leonard's wife, and fucked up Leonard's mind and life? Wish he'd died more painfully.
- The original John G. also had it coming for aiding rape and assaulting Leonard. Rot in hell.
- Leonard's wife should have known that escalating the tests and forcing Leonard to magically get rid of his brain damage wasn't very feasible. If the unreliable memories are to be trusted, she was starving him and screaming at him to snap out of it. She knew her life was at risk when she tried the insulin shots. I'd think of it as an aided suicide, where she used her own husband to end her life, ignoring the fact that her death would devastate a man who was already suffering from brain damage. She was the one light in his life... but she decided she'd rather die than live with the mentally crippled version of him. It's painful to accept, but they just weren't meant to grow old together.
- the Jimmy drug dealer guy knew that Leonard was essentially a manipulated hitman. He knew he'd be in danger. I do think his death was a little unfortunate. It's hard to wish death on someone even if they deal drugs and extort people, because he was precious to others (like Natalie).
- Gammel the cop deserved to die. He did help Leonard, but he was essentially the reason Leonard remained trapped in a neverending cycle of revenge. He knew the truth, he had evidence, he could have ended it, but it's very likely that he's the reason Leonard never had a tattoo of 'I've taken revenge' tatooed on his chest. He used Leonard like a hired gun without the money, and paid for it with his life.
This sounds cheesy, but I think the movie shows that while perception and reality itself is at the mercy of memories and what we desperately want to believe in order to believe, there's something about human emotions that even memories can't change.
The people in this movie are deeply flawed, but choose to show compassion for no real reason or profit- simply because they had the luxury of doing so. In the same way, Leonard is just someone who really, really loved his wife. The brain damage had made him exactly like Sammy, but killing his own wife was the reason he changed so drastically from a patient who was all but a vegetable babied by his wife, to someone ruthlessly organized and driven - just to forget.
Leonard just wanted to kill Teddy, and end the cycle of being meaninglessly exploited while he meaninglessly sought revenge. Would he try to forget again if he was told the whole truth again? Yes, probably. But I don't think he would let himself chase random people. Most likely, he'd construct a puzzle much harder to solve, so he was left scrambling after the breadcrumbs he left for himself for the rest of his life.
Because ultimately, it isn't the guilt of killing his wife that's the worst thing in his mind. It's the fact that conditioning is supposed to be real, it was _supposed_ to help him realize he was overdosing her and stop, yet he never realized it until it was too late, and failed a test of 'love'.
He killed his wife. He was Sammy. That's why the dying guy called him Sammy. That's why it was Pierce in the institution at the end for a single frame between two people passing. Also, he worked in insurance, so he's a liar.
Christopher nolan is absolutely a genius
Wow
This is the Mona Lisa of film making, saw it twice in theaters.
Christopher is going to adapt his brother Jonathan's short story, into a film named 'Memento', cannot wait to see it!
"Where was i ?"😂😂i see what you did there buddy
Here’s my take: Sammy jankis IS Leonard. The flash shot of Sammy in the chair that swaps to Leonard is proof. Also, the scene with the “Ive done it” tat, I saw that differently. I saw that he had killed the guy who attacked them, got the tat so he would remember it ( if you remember, there is a picture of him pointing to that exact spot, but the tat wasn’t there yet. Indicating that’s where he wanted the tat to go. Also he has a big smile, indicating he’s happy he found & killed the guy). As far as his wife, the Sammy jankis story is how he killed her. SHE was the one who couldn’t accept his condition & SHE was the one who “tested” Leonard. Remember the “tests” that were administered to Sammy. Leonard said that there was a way to remember things even with his condition:Repetition! THATS why Leonard repeats the Sammy Jankis story to everyone he meets. Because it’s actually Leonard’s story, but he made himself believe it was someone else’s story. He is essentially telling everyone, including himself, what actually happened, but just changing the name of the main person, so no one, not even Leonard, would know that it was Leonard that killed his wife.
I mean that's obvious
How did leonard remember his conditon if the last thing he remembers is the incident
Wow, never thought of that
Because he went to therapy and learned a system based on routine which makes his possible. The writings are part of the system, making him fit in the reality and even do day to day stuff.
In the movie he talks about conditioning
Uh, I dunno. Maybe because of the fuckton of ink on his body?
This condition has only happened one time .... I think. That pt didnt know they had the condition. But for the sake of the movie...needed to be able to tell people.
Can't believe you do five of these a week. Simply brilliant.
I don't think Leonard's perpetual "cycle of vengeance" could go on forever. I'm quite sure that without Teddy covering his back, the police would eventually catch up to Leonard and take him into custody, ultimately resulting in him being placed in some sort of mental hospital. An amnesiac can't just go around aimlessly hunting people with no consequences.
Yea, i thought the same when he killed teddy.
its not amnesia
This YT video has got multiple important points wrong.These 3 pointers should make the movie quite clear:
1. It wasn't the burglar that killed his wife, but Lenny himself did with the insulin shots.
2. OFC Lenny thinks she was murdered because the last thing he registers a memory is when she is laying motionless on the bathroom floor looking at him. He has concluded that she must be dying (which she isn't, she just lays still after a what has happened to her and the perp is still in the house).
3. Lenny manipulated his own clues so he would kill Teddy, because Teddy is using him to kill drugdealers and making money off of it. Lenny wants to STOP the killing, NOT to keep on killing as the guy in this YT-video says. He can't continue killing because the license plate tattooed on his thigh now belongs to a DEAD John G.
Dawei Zhao well written post. 2 faults i see here:
Error 1:
Your point no3 doesnt make much sense because if he would like to continue killing ppl, why would he tattoo a soon-to-be-dead guys car licence plate to his thigh stopping him from ever finding any more john g’s? That tattoo will prove the guy is dead.
Error 2:
It was not his uncouncious that told him sammy. It was the guy that he was dragging down the stairs. Rewatch that part and you’ll see.
Lenny didn't kill his wife , Sammy killed his wife and Sammy is not Lenny , Lenny remembers Sammy jankis story clearly because it happened before the incident
@@manojbhargav320 No, the OP is right. Nolan would not have included the flashes of Leonard injecting the needle into his wife's thigh or of him sitting in the chair in Sammy's place in the hospital otherwise.
@Dawei Zhao Sounds too cliche, it's more interesting if Lenny is fucked up enough to kill his wife and then just invents the whole thing. Far more realistic
You guys have way too much time on your hands lol
It is truly the best movie I've ever seen. Its gripping story, amazing characters and terrific plot twist. Cinematic perfection
still one of my favourite films after all these years later. Simply because of its genius idea and twists
This is the only movie that, after I watched it for the first time, I immediately restarted it and watched it through again. Back to Back.
Leonard doesnt want to get out of this cycle, he wants to continue his revenge, he wants to save others, he found meaning in revenge of everyone whos trying to manipulate him.
I'm afraid that ain't right, for all of the 6 facts tattooed on his thighs (especially the car license number) will lead to Teddy, he is not able to kill again unless he strips off his skin
then why is natali still alive
Better not to read comments and get more confused. Whatever you think is the true story, just believe in it and stay happy.
I hear you. But I can't say "happiness" was something I felt at any point in the movie 🤣
I'm still confused.
The way I've always interpreted it, was that there was an original break in. His wife didn't die, but Leonard had a brain injury hence the memory loss.
Then Leonard killed his own wife, who was diabetic and was admitted into the mental institute as a result. He then creates a new reality for himself. That his wife got murdered and he has to find her killer.
He then meets Teddy and goes on a never ending search for his wife's killer. Teddy then starts using Leonard for his own monetary gains as a crooked cop.
Can anyone confirm?
That is the common theory for the film. It’s never been officially confirmed by the Nolans, but it’s one of the myriad of possibilities
(late, but here's my take:)
I do feel like that in the end, Leonard will end up caught and turned in to the psych ward, *because the only reason he's on the loose killing John G.s is because a literal cop is covering his tracks.* At the very beginning of the movie, he took a picture of Teddy (the cop's) dead body. I like to believe he captioned it saying 'I've killed him'. He had no reason not to, since he'd forgotten the truth *_and also forgotten the fact that he wanted to suppress it out of guilt._*
Of course, if we want to believe he doesn't keep the picture he took of Teddie's dead body, who's to say. That isn't in the movie. But I think he'll keep it.
In the end, with or without functioning memories, Leonard didn't have the human nature of a killer. I don't think he's so depraved, that he would rather continue killing people instead of living a life without purpose. When he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' he wasn't lying to himself just to continue living a narrative of righteous revenge, _he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' because he wanted to live continue living a narrative of righteous revenge _*_one last time._*
Sammy was some conman who was caught, because it *should have been possible for him to be conditioned to not touch electified objects.* But when Leonard was injured and developed anterograde amnesia, it was the real deal. This was why *Leonard's wife kept testing him- but the conditioning didn't work even though it was supposed to, since his brain damage was real.*
But his wife, unable to let him go, kept trying the conditioning tests that were supposed to work... and it ultimately killed her.
This was where, despite his memory being in fragments, was consumed with guilt. *_Rather than admit to himself that the conditioning failed even though it should've worked, and accept he overdosed his wife, he planted fake memories into himself, _* such as:
- His wife had died after the rape attempt (to hide the fact that he killed her)
- The police didn't believe there was was a second person called John G. at the scene (untrue, Gammel the cop believed him and even helped him find and kill him)
- Sammy wasn't a conman, and had a wife who died tragically after testing him (to hide the fact that Sammy was his cover, his excuse, and to push the reality of his wife's death onto a stranger)
Honestly, I don't think anyone who died was completely unaware that they were playing with fire. The rapists deserved everything they had coming. Fuck them.
- The rapist who actually did that to Leonard's wife, and fucked up Leonard's mind and life? Wish he'd died more painfully.
- The original John G. also had it coming for aiding rape and assaulting Leonard. Rot in hell.
- Leonard's wife should have known that escalating the tests and forcing Leonard to magically get rid of his brain damage wasn't very feasible. If the unreliable memories are to be trusted, she was starving him and screaming at him to snap out of it. She knew her life was at risk when she tried the insulin shots. I'd think of it as an aided suicide, where she used her own husband to end her life, ignoring the fact that her death would devastate a man who was already suffering from brain damage. She was the one light in his life... but she decided she'd rather die than live with the mentally crippled version of him. It's painful to accept, but they just weren't meant to grow old together.
- the Jimmy drug dealer guy knew that Leonard was essentially a manipulated hitman. He knew he'd be in danger. I do think his death was a little unfortunate. It's hard to wish death on someone even if they deal drugs and extort people, because he was precious to others (like Natalie).
- Gammel the cop deserved to die. He did help Leonard, but he was essentially the reason Leonard remained trapped in a neverending cycle of revenge. He knew the truth, he had evidence, he could have ended it, but it's very likely that he's the reason Leonard never had a tattoo of 'I've taken revenge' tatooed on his chest. He used Leonard like a hired gun without the money, and paid for it with his life.
This sounds cheesy, but I think the movie shows that while perception and reality itself is at the mercy of memories and what we desperately want to believe in order to believe, there's something about human emotions that even memories can't change.
The people in this movie are deeply flawed, but choose to show compassion for no real reason or profit- simply because they had the luxury of doing so. In the same way, Leonard is just someone who really, really loved his wife. The brain damage had made him exactly like Sammy, but killing his own wife was the reason he changed so drastically from a patient who was all but a vegetable babied by his wife, to someone ruthlessly organized and driven - just to forget.
Leonard just wanted to kill Teddy, and end the cycle of being meaninglessly exploited while he meaninglessly sought revenge. Would he try to forget again if he was told the whole truth again? Yes, probably. But I don't think he would let himself chase random people. Most likely, he'd construct a puzzle much harder to solve, so he was left scrambling after the breadcrumbs he left for himself for the rest of his life.
Because ultimately, it isn't the guilt of killing his wife that's the worst thing in his mind. It's the fact that conditioning is supposed to be real, it was _supposed_ to help him realize he was overdosing her and stop, yet he never realized it until it was too late, and failed a test of 'love'.
carrie-anne moss plays such an evil character here, it's brutal
But my goodness, she is so HOT in this film. Don't remember her ever looking this good.
@@tcscushing true.. she looks absolutely gorgeous and love the way she talks slowly.
The sad thing is, Lenny would never, ever know the truth, ever again. All the truth including him already killed John G, his wife actually survived the incident, and he killed his own wife, nobody knows about them anymore now that Teddy already gone and Lenny, well, will never remember them.
Or does he want to know the truth or escaping ?
no matter what any one says or explains, im still totally confused
I just watched this movie and I love how the story is written and how you can decipher and decode it in many different ways. The only story that comes close to this in my opinion is Her Story which is a game where you gotta piece together the story by watching little tapes out of order. I find that approach in a stories narrative very fascinating. I am going to be thinking about this film for awhile
I didn’t understand how he was driving Jimmy’s car and Natalie didn’t really seem to care
I feel like there's another story of Natalie idk I need explanation
She did lmao that’s why she used him to kill Teddy, as she knows that Teddy used him to kill her husband (Jimmy)
Yeah, she was surprised, but not THAT surprised. And wearing Jimmy's suit would probably be more shocking than just driving his car.
Watched it for the first time in 2020 and people who watched it in 2002 are still as confused as me 😜
This is the first movie that when watching, I just stopped thinking and just let myself be shown the rest of the movie because I just couldn't follow it anymore. I've honestly never had that before
This is the Mona Lisa of film making.
Christopher is going to adapt his brother's short story, into film.
I watched this movie high and i gotta say it was one of the most mind blowing expeirences of my life
I Have amnesic syndrome due to brain haemorrhages in 2006 and 7. Guy Pierce plays an amnesiac amazingly convincing. I should know.
@Chuck Spadina i am curious too
Hey, do you remember?
One thing I don’t get about memento…
How does Leonard always remember that he has the condition
If you violate the "suspension of disbelief" law, then people will have a hard time lying to you, even for entertainment purposes.
ALL fantasy IS, by definition, a lie.
Then think about the author, arranging video sequences into a mosaic, consciously choosing to sometimes have them contradict each other, BW timeline running forward, color running backward, until they meet.
And one more thing I don't get is that how does he know that he's supposed to take camera pictures or even look at the pictures that he takes, he should forget that too?
kalls2k he has the whole poster thing with pictures attached to it and he carries a photo album in his pockets at all times so that’s probably how he remembers.
@@pippyanne2580 damn it's like starting from square one every 10 mins
he imagines it, his condition is a lie and he tries to do everything to make it look real.
This movie is always my fav movie for the Weekends
Huh...u watch this movie every wk... Why do u have amnesia...lol (jk dude...disregard the question)
Memento means "I remember" . This stress on _I_ is really important, because our society really likes to remember collectively.
There is nothing more vexing than an open ended movie. Sometimes, you just want to know what the bloody ending was supposed to be in the directors mind
I just watched this movie, 2 hours ago... I thought it was a masterpiece, I want to watch it.
Such a masterpiece movie!! I just finished watching this movie for the first time😁.... I think..
I watched this movie super stoned 20 years ago. I didnt understand the end lol. Just watched it again, awesome movie.
10:39 where was I and why am I watching this ?!! 🤣🤣
This movie is so hard to dissect, i have made many explanations in my mind that i think would pan out, but every time i am somewhere close to concluding that the explanation is true, I remember something happening in the movie which just makes me question everything before that point.
(late, but here's my take:)
I do feel like that in the end, Leonard will end up caught and turned in to the psych ward, *because the only reason he's on the loose killing John G.s is because a literal cop is covering his tracks.* At the very beginning of the movie, he took a picture of Teddy (the cop's) dead body. I like to believe he captioned it saying 'I've killed him'. He had no reason not to, since he'd forgotten the truth *_and also forgotten the fact that he wanted to suppress it out of guilt._*
Of course, if we want to believe he doesn't keep the picture he took of Teddie's dead body, who's to say. That isn't in the movie. But I think he'll keep it.
In the end, with or without functioning memories, Leonard didn't have the human nature of a killer. I don't think he's so depraved, that he would rather continue killing people instead of living a life without purpose. When he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' he wasn't lying to himself just to continue living a narrative of righteous revenge, _he made the cop his next target and the 'wife killer' because he wanted to live continue living a narrative of righteous revenge _*_one last time._*
Sammy was some conman who was caught, because it *should have been possible for him to be conditioned to not touch electified objects.* But when Leonard was injured and developed anterograde amnesia, it was the real deal. This was why *Leonard's wife kept testing him- but the conditioning didn't work even though it was supposed to, since his brain damage was real.*
But his wife, unable to let him go, kept trying the conditioning tests that were supposed to work... and it ultimately killed her.
This was where, despite his memory being in fragments, was consumed with guilt. *_Rather than admit to himself that the conditioning failed even though it should've worked, and accept he overdosed his wife, he planted fake memories into himself, _* such as:
- His wife had died after the rape attempt (to hide the fact that he killed her)
- The police didn't believe there was was a second person called John G. at the scene (untrue, Gammel the cop believed him and even helped him find and kill him)
- Sammy wasn't a conman, and had a wife who died tragically after testing him (to hide the fact that Sammy was his cover, his excuse, and to push the reality of his wife's death onto a stranger)
Honestly, I don't think anyone who died was completely unaware that they were playing with fire. The rapists deserved everything they had coming. Fuck them.
- The rapist who actually did that to Leonard's wife, and fucked up Leonard's mind and life? Wish he'd died more painfully.
- The original John G. also had it coming for aiding rape and assaulting Leonard. Rot in hell.
- Leonard's wife should have known that escalating the tests and forcing Leonard to magically get rid of his brain damage wasn't very feasible. If the unreliable memories are to be trusted, she was starving him and screaming at him to snap out of it. She knew her life was at risk when she tried the insulin shots. I'd think of it as an aided suicide, where she used her own husband to end her life, ignoring the fact that her death would devastate a man who was already suffering from brain damage. She was the one light in his life... but she decided she'd rather die than live with the mentally crippled version of him. It's painful to accept, but they just weren't meant to grow old together.
- the Jimmy drug dealer guy knew that Leonard was essentially a manipulated hitman. He knew he'd be in danger. I do think his death was a little unfortunate. It's hard to wish death on someone even if they deal drugs and extort people, because he was precious to others (like Natalie).
- Gammel the cop deserved to die. He did help Leonard, but he was essentially the reason Leonard remained trapped in a neverending cycle of revenge. He knew the truth, he had evidence, he could have ended it, but it's very likely that he's the reason Leonard never had a tattoo of 'I've taken revenge' tatooed on his chest. He used Leonard like a hired gun without the money, and paid for it with his life.
This sounds cheesy, but I think the movie shows that while perception and reality itself is at the mercy of memories and what we desperately want to believe in order to believe, there's something about human emotions that even memories can't change.
The people in this movie are deeply flawed, but choose to show compassion for no real reason or profit- simply because they had the luxury of doing so. In the same way, Leonard is just someone who really, really loved his wife. The brain damage had made him exactly like Sammy, but killing his own wife was the reason he changed so drastically from a patient who was all but a vegetable babied by his wife, to someone ruthlessly organized and driven - just to forget.
Leonard just wanted to kill Teddy, and end the cycle of being meaninglessly exploited while he meaninglessly sought revenge. Would he try to forget again if he was told the whole truth again? Yes, probably. But I don't think he would let himself chase random people. Most likely, he'd construct a puzzle much harder to solve, so he was left scrambling after the breadcrumbs he left for himself for the rest of his life.
Because ultimately, it isn't the guilt of killing his wife that's the worst thing in his mind. It's the fact that conditioning is supposed to be real, it was _supposed_ to help him realize he was overdosing her and stop, yet he never realized it until it was too late, and failed a test of 'love'.
One of my favorite movies ever.
I always thought Leonard was Sammy.
Brian Bairos that’s what I think too after all these years
@@LucyLioness100 Teddy tells him at some point to change his clothes and get a new identity so yeah maybe he managed that and he was indeed Sammy!
SG137IU
I really struggled to grasp this movie and found it pretty hard to follow. However, i think if i could get answers to the following two questions id ultimately be able to determine what really happened.
1) How could he remember his condition if he couldnt remember anything after his accident?
-is this in itself a hint that his condition could be fake... or that its in his own head maybe intentionally for some reason regarding his wife. Teddy tells us the sammy story is a lie but Lenny remembers the truth before his accident so he should remember that correctly unless theres a motive not too.
2) In the last scene with teddy, what was truthful and what was a lie
-Sammy Jankins being a con man/not having a wife
-Lenny’s wife being diabetic
-Lenny killing his wife with insulin because of his condition
-Lenny killed the guys who raped and killed his wife years ago
Surely, this information cannot all be true, as it wouldnt make sense as a whole. But from what i gathered, you cant trust Lenny or Teddy to be telling the truth as they both might have alternate motives for stating/denying these facts.
Maybe the movie was made to keep you wondering, just like our main character Lenny does. I can appreciate that, but then imo i think they then left it way too wide open for interpretation without at least somehow slightly nudging us towards whether or not everything Lenny seemed to remember before his accident was accurate or if some was not. If they did, then it went right over my head.
Great points - to me it's a cop out if Nolan left 'everything' uncertain in that everything could be a lie or a memory failure.
I do realise that this is how life often is, but this is a movie, we do need, to use your word, 'nudging' in some direction, I'd say we're entitled to it having chosen to watch the film !
I saw the film for the first time today and have immediately ordered the DVD in the hope that the chronological version will be of assistance.
(My own hunch is that Lenny is really Sammy, and the tattoo is a simple reminder of that which somehow makes him remember his condition, but then again how could he, having the condition, remember his own new name since he would have invented it after the injury ? Oh dear......)
I just noticed something while watching the film and nobody seems to be interested in it. Lenny was talking on the phone with a cop and the cop told him he was coming. When Lenny goes down he finds Teddy, who maybe was just waiting for him to come down so he could give to Lenny his next person to kill (the drug dealer). But when Lenny goes down he ask "Officer xxx?" (something along those lines, i don't remember correctly). Teddy looks confused at first but then he says "yeah" and bring Lenny outside, and not only that but he tells him to write down his name as "Teddy" and not "Officer" or "Captain". Could that mean anything to the story?
Maybe but also in that scene he looks at the guy at the front desk for a split second to ensure he doesn’t look at teddy when asked if he’s “cop xxx”. And when teddy and Lenny are at the abounded house, teddy tells him that the drug dealers use the front office guy at the motel to mislead anyone asking for Lenny or whatever he said
Thats what confused me the most. but then lenny does pull out a badge later on, so is he a cop? doesnt help that ive seen 2 versions of this movie
Here’s something to take note of: If he can’t remember anything after the incident how the hell can he remember that he has a condition? The condition happened after the incident how can he remember that he has it? Also when he was looking a jimmys picture in natalies how’s in one frame you can see him with a mustache and in another he’s without one.
You just gained you a subscription. I've ALWAYS said his wife isn't dead, he's made the entire thing up and she's still here. The final scene proves this out. He has the new tattoo, and his (dead) wife! Thank you for the video. Fantastic work!
10:01 the picture that teddy claims he took after Leonard murdered his wife’s killer, he is pointing to the same spot where the tattoo “I’ve done it” is on his chest.
4:29
I saw a diagram/organigram/mind map about Memento online somewhere and it's incredible how the beginning and the end of the film revert back to the middle. A mind fuck of note. One of Nolan's best next to the Prestige.
A couple of things that are never explained:
-How does he remember he has the condition? Yes he has "remember Sammy tattoed" and other tattoes that explain the situation, but he doesnt always look at them and yet explains his condition within seconds
-He claims he cant learn anything new. But at the beginning he says "You learn to trust your own handwritting" and that "Notes are unreliable, tattoeing them is better". He also always checks the drawers and assume they should be empty, except the Bible.
All this things he learned outside of his condition.
And of course the biggest unexplained answer, how does he know the name "John G". Its not like the 2nd attacker told him, his name. Yet he somehow has that "clue"...
I suppose he just wants to remember the stuff that fulfill his daydream reality and ignore the ones that inhibit him from forming this plan of chasing the killer.
I think that would be what he referred to with Sammy. How he couldn’t be conditioned but Lenny could be. Going off of his instincts. Also his handwriting would be the same from before the injury so that would be easily recognizable.
There’s a part where Leonard tells Teddy that photos are just as good as memories, because memories can’t be trusted that much either.
That they can’t hold up in witness testimony.
I think that line is a big clue that Leonard’s memory isn’t as good as he thinks.
I think another big clue is when remembering Sammy Jankis, that he notes the problem is psychological, not an effect of his trauma. And through out the movie says “he never said he was faking it.” He wants to believe it’s real. Maybe out of guilt for what transpired. As he said he feels guilty. If it’s psychological, and wasn’t trauma related then subconsciously, it’s like he copies Sammy’s condition as a punishment on himself for not helping him and his family.
He wants to be the good guy and right the wrongs. All of them.
Absolutely love Memento. Still my favorite Nolan film. Taking nothing away from the others.
GPtwo yeah, Christopher Nolan really does make some top notch movies. He’s a true boss, Nolan is truly 1 of a kind.
Ohhh please, do take. His "others" come nowhere close to this masterpiece of film making. It's the Memento = Nolans' Pulp Fiction.
8:09 omg!!! I went back to find this scene and it's really there i didn't notice?? Mindblown
I was born with the same memory loss that Sammy has. My director showed me this movie. The portrayal of this condition is so accurate it was actually painful to watch. Also, watching this movie with no short term memory is a confusing and wild experience 😂
How would you know?
How would I know what? 🙄
@@laurenandrews7790 Exactly.
My husband had temporary amnesia after a skiing accident. Watching this movie freaked him out because he hated that feeling that he should know something but can't remember it.
one of my all time favorite movies. Ironically this film is a key to remembering a certain time in my life. I first saw this RIGHT before September 11. I was obsessed with this film and it's score. I was watching it almost daily and then woke up Tuesday morning to the horrible events of that morning. The score for MEMENTO became a score for my life and the horrible reality of that time.
I have a theory that they are in the matrix since Trinity and Cypher was there lol
That’s just what the movie is, it’s like life, because once you admit there’s a few ways something could have happened, and that life branches, it’s like, endless possibilities
_Memento is my favorite Christopher Nolan Movie._
Same
Anybody else see the similarities to "Of Mice and Men," with our characters Lenny and Lenny?
And of course from a great show "The Mentalist," The antagonist Red John and John G? Brutal murder that sets the protagonist on a seemingly endless quest for revenge that never satisfies.
Two questions
1. How did Lenny get that card with "meet Natalie "
2.How Jimmy got to know of Sammy and whispered it before his death
Pls answer anyone
Jefin K Saji 1. Do you mean the round card? He found it in his pocket which actually is Jimmy’s. He took Jimmy’s clothes off and his car when he killed him. That’s why when he was in the parking lot outside the bar Natalie confused him with Jimmy. He was driving his car.
Jefin K Saji There is no true answer to the second question. We can only guess why but we van never know for sure. They probably met through Teddy. Because before Lenny kills him, Jimmy tells him that he remembers him and asks where Teddy is.
1) He found the coaster in his jacket pocket, which was actually Jimmy's Jacket, who was Natalie's boyfriend. 2) Leonard told everybody about Sammy and he had already met Jimmy.
Even the explanation of this movie MESSED UP MY BRAIN 😵😵😵😵😵😫😫😫😵😵😵😵😵
There is a problem though. Teddy tells Lenny that story of Sammy gets different and gets bigger everytime he tells it. Just like in Usual Suspects we won't be able to know how much of the story was true, how much of it was Sammy's story and how much of it was the story of Lenny himself.
Good point about the Usual Suspects! Kinda true of the stories Leonard tells to himself, also, lol.
The map in the DVD extras and in the Memento website had A LOT of photos of a LOT of crime scenes pinned to the city map. He had been at this for a while.
Since the robbers had on masks, maybe Teddy was one of the robbers all along.
Teddy was maybe be at the scene as a suspect... he is there investigating. He made it look like one guy just to close the investigation
I don't remember his wife testing him, she was advised he was faking and she was pitting her life against his will to keep lying thinking he'll surely drop character, she was crying and shocked because she thought he was willing to kill her to keep the charade going.
yeah that part made me so sad actually...