Analysis of the narrative of Memento (2000)

The film Memento (2000) directed by Christopher Nolan has an extremely interesting and completely unique narrative. The events in the film all take place in reverse order, going backwards in time, so the opening shots that the viewer sees would, in chronological order, be the final shots; the viewer sees the last event in the film first and the first event last. This is very clever because the protagonist Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) suffers from anterograde amnesia (short-term memory loss), and thus cannot remember day-to-day events. He makes himself remember recently acquired facts through noting them down on paper, taking Polaroid pictures of places and people and making notes about them on the back of the pictures, and by tattooing the most important facts onto his body. The fact that the events in the film are told in reverse chronological order means that the viewer doesn’t know why the events that he/ she just witnessed took place and what caused them, therefore placing them directly in the shoes of Leonard Shelby. However, in order to further bewilder the viewer, these events that are shown in reverse chronological order (which are shown in colour) are interspersed with a sequence of events, that is largely taken up by a phone call to an unknown caller, that are presented in chronological order (and is shown in black and white) until their time lines meet.

This clever and unique use of narrative adds a very interesting twist and challenges the already popular idea of memory loss and disorientation of the protagonist in psychological thrillers, such as The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) directed by Renny Harlin in which the female protagonist (Geena Davis) suffers from amnesia, or Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964). However the success of Memento was likely to have influenced an avalanche of this brand of thriller in the subsequent few years, which saw the release of The Bourne Trilogy (2002/04/07), Paycheck (2003) and also Kill Bill (2003) in which (although none of the characters suffer from memory loss) the female protagonist was in a coma and must get her revenge after waking up, which is still a similar plot line. Comparing Memento’s narrative with other thrillers similar to its kind therefore shows how truly unique its use of narrative is as, despite the similarities between plot lines, its use of reverse chronological order throughout separates it completely and creates a totally different viewing experience.

On the other hand, there are aspects of Memento’s narrative which are conventional to the thriller genre. The male protagonist, for example, and his internal monologue, which causes the viewer to relate to him directly and see his world through his eyes, especially regarding the other characters in the film as, because it is in reverse chronological order, the characters aren’t introduced gradually. Therefore the viewer has only Leonard Shelby’s judgment of them that was jotted down on the back of the photo of the character. This use of narrative directly influences the viewer’s perceptions of the characters and events in the film as he/ she sees it unfold through the eyes of Leonard Shelby. And this causes, really, the biggest twist at the end of the film. This is that Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) reveals to Shelby that he was the cop that worked on the case of his wife’s rape (and previously presumed murder). He then goes on to say that his wife had survived the attack, he just couldn’t remember because he was unconscious and had then developed his condition. Teddy also says that it was his wife (and not Sammy Jankis’ – whose story Shelby had been telling to the unknown caller on the phone) that had diabetes, and that Shelby unknowingly killed her with an insulin over-dose, as described in the phone call. Finally, Teddy says that, because he felt sorry for Shelby, he had helped him track down and kill the man who he thought killed his wife, but that Shelby had forgot due to his condition, so he was helping him to do it again so he could write it down, remember it, and move on. However, Shelby doesn’t believe him, and writes ‘don’t believe his lies’ on the back of his picture of Teddy (and this is how the viewer first perceives Teddy – as a liar). So, at this point there is a huge case of moral ambiguity; does the viewer believe Shelby, with whom he/ she had previously related with? Or does he/ she believe Teddy, who he/ she had previously perceived as a liar? And, moral ambiguity is of course another key convention of thriller narrative.
In Conclusion, there are both conventional and unconventional aspects of Memento’s narrative. The obvious unconventional aspect is that of the use of reverse chronological order, whilst the male protagonist, internal monologue and use of moral ambiguity are examples of conventional aspects.

Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby in Memento