Memento (Nolan)

My understanding of the Memento (2000) movie

MASSIVE SPOILERS












- Lenny sees his wife rereading her favorite book so many times. She says she enjoys it, despite the repetition. Lenny says the joy is in experiencing something new.

SAMMY JANKINS

- As an insurance investigator, Lenny is assigned to Sammy Jankins, who appears to suffer from short-term memory loss. Sammy is not married.
- Company naturally wants to avoid paying out. Lenny suggests the test of picking up objects. If Sammy avoids the shocked object or shows any hesitation about it, this would be taken as evidence that he was faking the condition.
- Sammy keeps getting shocked, reacting the same every time, no evidence of faking it. Lenny turns it around by claiming that if this was a physical condition, Sammy should have learned to avoid the shocked object by instinct. His failure to do so suggests it was psychological instead, which isn't covered by insurance. Company wins regardless, and Lenny got a big promotion.
- Lenny told his wife about the outcome, possibly telling her Sammy was faking it or that it was purely psychological.

LENNY'S WIFE

- Later, some druggie named John/James G molests Lenny's wife. Lenny gets hit in the head and ends up with the same condition as Sammy (karma?)
- Lenny's wife struggles to live with his condition, where she has to constantly remind him what he forgets. She keeps repeating the same routines, but it's always new to him, poetically reflecting their perspectives on books.
- She is also concerned that Lenny is faking the condition, or that it was a psychological condition (presumably from the trauma of her being molested) that he is capable of overcoming it, just like what Lenny himself told her about Sammy. This prevents her from being able to move on as if this condition is permanent, hoping Lenny can return to his old self.
- She directly asks Lenny about what he honestly believed about Sammy. He says he believes Sammy "can make new memories", avoiding a direct answer, but it further discourages her from moving on, as it implies he can overcome the condition.
- She then commits to a final test, where she rewinds her watch and tells Lenny it was time for her insulin shot, hoping that the prospect of overdosing his wife would cause Lenny to snap out of his condition (or give up the act if he was faking it), and she was ready to die if this failed as she could not keep living like this.
- When informed of the details, Lenny realized he effectively killed his own wife. Due to his condition, he soon forgot those details, but the trauma remained in his heart (the condition was, in fact, purely physical). To cope with the loss while the actual details were forgotten, he convinced himself it was the rapist who killed her, and imprinted the tattoo "John G ***** and murdered my wife" to maintain the narrative. It also gave him a purpose to live for: vengeance
- We also directly see an example of him taking advantage of his own condition, by calling a lady during the movie to place his wife's belongings, wait for him to sleep deeply and then go to the bathroom while slamming the door hard, specifically so that he would wake up and recall his experience with the bathroom incident. It works, but the agony of recalling the event causes him to burn those belongings.

TEDDY

- John Edward "Teddy" Gamell was the cop assigned to the molestation case. He became friendly with Lenny, but had to deal with his condition. He succeeded in tracking down the rapist.
- He was rather lax about adhering to the letter of the law, handing Lenny the police case files and even allowing him to exact vengeance against the rapist (instead of arresting him and letting the court handle it). He hoped that Lenny killing the rapist would be a memory that would linger, overcoming the condition. He took a photo of Lenny's joy after completing the vengeance, hoping it would stick.
- But Lenny soon forgot about that, and continued to pursue "John G". Even when presented with the truth, Lenny could not accept it, as it would take away his purpose of living. He would distort the evidence, such as removing pages from the police files, so that once he forgot the details, he would be able to maintain the narrative that gives him something to live for.
- It's implied that Teddy left Lenny on his own at some point, but he would still relentlessly pursue this "John G" (Teddy: "A romantic quest that wouldn't end even if I wasn't in the picture"). Rather than allowing him to kill innocent people, Teddy decided to use Lenny's motivation for vengeance to pursue actual criminals with the name "John/James G", which Teddy would occasionally find (given how common the name is).

JIMMY GRANTS

- Teddy's latest target was Jimmy Grants, the big drug dealer. He deals at Discount Inn, and he told the front desk guy to inform him of anybody snooping around. Lenny taking a picture of the Inn alerted Jimmy, but after meeting him (hearing about Sammy), learning of his condition, and his pursuit of his wife's killer, Jimmy realized Lenny wasn't interested in his drug dealing at all and could not possibly pose a threat with his condition. Jimmy may have mentioned the "Memory Man" to Natalie though.
- Teddy contacted Jimmy to meet him at the abandoned warehouse, where Jimmy is supposed to pay $200k for Teddy's meth. Jimmy would be on guard against cops, but Teddy sent Lenny to meet him instead. Jimmy let his guard down, allowing Lenny to kill him, believing that Jimmy was the killer. This went exactly as Teddy intended.
- But Teddy underestimated how far Lenny would go to maintain his narrative. Lenny wanted to kill Teddy once he found out the truth, but Teddy knew Lenny wouldn't be able to kill outside of pursuing his vengeance. Teddy also said he was a "John G" as well, allowing Lenny to manipulate his future self into believing Teddy was the killer, by writing a note not to believe his lies and a tattoo with his license plate number, as well as burning the photos of killing Jimmy Grants and his original vengeance.
- Lenny also ended up wearing Jimmy's clothes and driving his Jaguar. I'm not entirely sure why he did this, but I would guess he wanted to feel like a new person once he moves on and forgets about killing Jimmy.

NATALIE

- Natalie sees Lenny come to her bar with Jimmy's clothes and Jimmy's car, making her very suspicious. Lenny does not remember anything, and Natalie verifies his condition as well. She suspects he was involved in Jimmy's disappearance and that he may be associated with Teddy (who was supposed to be making the deal with Jimmy), but she knows she can't learn anything from him. In her frustration, she realized that she could take advantage of Lenny's condition.
- In particular, Dodd is an associate of Jimmy Grants who owned some or all of the $200k that Jimmy was gonna pay to "Teddy" for the meth before he disappeared. Natalie decides to trick Lenny into thinking Dodd beat her up for not leading her to Teddy, so that Lenny can pursue Dodd. She leaves a note for Lenny to either send Dodd to Teddy (presumably because she expects Teddy to show up around Lenny, as she is sure Lenny is connected to what happened with Jimmy when he was supposed to meet Teddy) or to have him killed, so he can stop pursuing Natalie. She also knew that Dodd would instantly recognize Jimmy's car, so Dodd might end up finding Lenny first, which is what happened.
- Teddy finds Lenny (because of the car) and tells him he should leave (since his mission to eliminate Jimmy Grants is completed) and (truthfully) warns him that Natalie is trying to use him to protect herself from Dodd. But the "don't believe his lies" causes Lenny to cross off Teddy's warning.
- Dodd finds Jimmy's car, pursues Lenny, but Lenny makes it to Dodd's hotel room and gets the jump on him. With Teddy's assistance, they get Dodd to leave town. Natalie appreciates that Lenny took care of Dodd. I think she also finds the photo of Teddy in Lenny's suit as well, realizes she could use Lenny to find Teddy and avenge Jimmy. She offers to help Lenny by tracing the license plate number.
- The license plate number results turned out even better than Natalie expected. It belonged to Teddy (she must have recognized the photo) and his name was "John G". She delivered the results to Lenny, saying she must have seen Teddy around at the bar recently, so that Lenny can pursue his target up close, and she also wanted to confirm that Lenny was ready to kill "John G" as well. She may have realized that Teddy was taking advantage of Lenny's condition (just as she is doing), but the license plate number should ensure that she succeeds in getting Lenny to kill Teddy instead. She even gave him the location where Teddy was supposed to meet Jimmy, as an appropriate place for Lenny to confront Teddy. She is able to avenge Jimmy without any blood on her hands!