Memento (2000)
Christopher Nolan’s second film, Memento (2000), uses an entirely unique backwards structure to convey the protagonist Leonard’s mental condition, giving the audience a direct look into his psyche.
To begin, Teddy is by far the highlight of the film. In the opening scene, we witness his death without knowing why Leonard chose to kill him. Due to this lack of context, we do not care in the slightest about his demise. However, because the rest of the film takes place before this moment, we get to see Teddy’s relationship with Leonard. We begin to actually care about his character, which retrospectively heightens the emotional impact of the opening scene. This dynamic is thrown into contention by the ending. Instead of repeating the opening, the climax shows how Teddy used Leonard’s condition to his own advantage. He marked local drug dealers as John G Leonard’s already deceased target to get them off the street and pocket their drug money.
Teddy's role in the film serves as a perfect way to mirror Leonard's perspective. When Leonard kills him, we know nothing of their joint history. As the film progresses backwards, we the audience see their history and understand how important this death actually is to Leonard’s character, even if Leonard himself doesn't know.
Secondly, the reverse structure immediately engages the audience while highlighting the central theme of memory. For most of the inciting incidents, we see the climax or conclusion before promptly flashing back to the context surrounding the event. The best example of this occurs when Leonard is given a note by Natalie claiming her boyfriend is abusing her. We then flash backward in time to see that it was actually Leonard who hit Natalie, and that she is actively threatening to use his memory loss to her advantage. This twist reveal not only exposes how detrimental Leonard's condition is, but it also highlights Natalie's twisted nature while keeping the audience completely gripped.
The film also utilizes a black and white filter at certain points. When this filter is active, Leonard's tone feels clearer, as if he is providing an objective overview now that he has all the evidence. However, in the second half of the film, this filter is used with a notable lack of narration. This structural shift suggests he may not be as confident about the unfolding events as he was earlier.
A recurring twist occurs across four separate points in the film, demonstrating how Leonard’s condition is continuously abused:
Natalie's manipulation: She uses Leonard's condition to remove dangerous people from her own life.
Teddy's exploitation He cleans up the streets by using the John G identity to assign targets to Leonard.
Sammy’s story where In a desperate attempt to find the man her husband was before developing anterograde amnesia, Sammy's wife takes an insulin injection and waits for his memory to reset. She repeats this until she overdoses. This disturbingly sad scene shows Sammy completely devastated by her death, entirely unaware that he was the one who administered the lethal dose.
Leonard's own deception In the final moments of the film, Leonard takes advantage of his own condition. He intentionally sets himself up to believe Teddy is John G so that he will execute him in the future after a memory reset.
The story of Sammy Jankis is critical because it is simply Leonard’s way of repressing the reality that he killed his own wife. By fabricating a story where it happened to someone else, Leonard lies to himself. This explains why the film repeatedly cuts back to Sammy. It not only foreshadows the insulin overdose, but it also shows how much Leonard has let Sammy's identity define him symbolized by his "Remember Sammy Jankis" tattoo.
Leonard's system of tattoos and Post-it notes is an incredibly effective motif. It highlights his deep distrust of others while serving as a crucial tool for foreshadowing, hinting at the endless loop Leonard is trapped in. The best use of this tool occurs when Teddy tries to convince Leonard not to trust Natalie. Leonard writes a warning note to himself, but he writes it in a completely different font. Leonard later notices this discrepancy, deduces that the advice is untrustworthy, and discards it as evidence. This sequence showcases Leonard’s greatest strengths as an investigator despite his condition: his sharp ability to read facial expressions, and his lack of past bias. Because he has no long term memories to cloud his judgment, he sticks strictly to the immediate facts. This also shows that leonard is acutely aware of his condition and has a method behind the post it notes and tattoos which at first seems excessive but later in the film as we see how often he has it abused becomes a tragic necessity.
In conclusion, Memento uses its unique structure to show how memories affect Leonard's perception of the world. By forcing the audience to experience events from his fragmented perspective, Nolan captures our intrigue before gradually revealing the bigger picture, adding immense weight to the film's inevitable, tragic outcome.