Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University

Department of England- and America-Studies

Frankfurt am Main

Title:

“Christopher Nolan’s Memento – Analysis of

the narrative structure of a
noirish revenge film “

Torben Schmidt
Grüner Weg 14
65611 Brechen
[email protected]

Seminar:
“Decadence and Modernism in
Late 20th Century American Cinema“

WS 2002/2003

Dr. Robert Hurd

23/02/2003
 Table of Contents

0. Introduction…………..……………..…………………...………………………….…...3

1. Classic Film Noir: Definiton, primary characteristics, conventions

and historical surroundings……...…………………………....………………….…3

1.1 Definition……………………………...……..…...…….….…….……...………….3
1.2 The role of the male protagonist……………..…….………...…………........4
1.3 The femme fatale…….…….……………...……………………………...………5
1.4 Further characteristics of classic film noir - Mood, tone, visual
and cinematic elements……....………………...……………….………………6
1.5 Historical and social surroundings…….………...………..………....……...7

2. Neo-Noir Films…………………...……………………….……………………………..9

2.1 Definition and Characteristics………………………………………………..9

3. The Revenge Film……………..……………………..………..………..…………..…12

3.1 Common Characteristics………………………………...…..…………….…12

4. Analysis of the narrative structure of Christopher

Nolan’s Memento…………………………….…………...…………………..……....13

4.1 A Plot Summary……………………...…..…………………..…………………13

4.2 The Narrative Structure………………...…………...…....………………….16
4.2.1 Colour Scenes……………………………………………………..….…17
4.2.2 Black and White Scenes……………………...………………...…….18
4.2.3 The Opening Scene……...………………………….…….…………...19

5. Conclusion…………………………………………………...………………………….20

6. References…………………………….……...…………………………...……………22

7. The Chronological Order Plot Table………………………….……...…………25

2
0. Introduction
Christopher Nolan’s low budget film Memento (2000), which is based on the
concept of a short story named Memento Mori written by Nolan’s brother
Jonathan, was certainly one of the most successful films in the United States in
2000. In most cinemas it was shown for more than 15 weeks in the summer
season – the most competitive season of the year. While the success of many
modern Hollywood films is a result of “money, hype and more money”,
Memento “represents a triumph of writing, directing, and performance” (Klein
2001). This film belongs to the so called neo-noir and revenge-film genre. In
this paper these two genres will first of all be described in detail. Afterwards,
the plot and the narrative structure of Memento – which is extremely complex,
clever and demands intelligence and constant attention from its spectators – will
be discussed.

1. Classic Film Noir: Definiton, primary characteristics, conventions and

historical surroundings

1.1 Definition

In the early 40s a new form of cinema emerged in America. Dark and gloom
laden, it reflected the anxieties of a country entering a new era. Cynical and
subversive in attitude, here was the antithesis of Hollywood’s glamour
productions of the 30s (Cameron 1993; Copjec 1993). The term film noir
(literally black film) was first introduced by the French critic Nino Frank in
1946 as he noticed “how dark and often black” (Tims 1996) the settings and
themes of these Hollywood films were. John Huston’s detective story “The
Maltese Falcon” (1941), starring Humphrey Bogart, can be considered the first
film of this genre. Welles’ “Touch of Evil” (1958), starring Charlton Heston,
marks the end of the classic film noir cycle (Crime Culture “Neo-Noir” 2002).
Unlike other forms of cinema, film noir has no elements that it can truly call its
own. Rather, film noir borrows elements from other forms, usually from the
crime and detective genres, but often overlapping into thrillers, horror, and even

3
science fiction (Copjec 1993). Certain melodramas, cowboy films, and even
musicals also fit in this particular genre (Encarta 2002). The primary moods of
classic film noir are “melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment,
disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt and
paranoia” (Tims 1996). As far as the typical characters in these films are
concerned, it has to be pointed out that there traditionally is a classical male
protagonist. The main characteristics of the typical film noir protagonist will
now be described in detail.

1.2 The role of the male protagonist

This person – in many cases impersonated like mentioned before by the job of a
“hard-boiled” (Crime Culture “Film Noir” 1999) private detective1 – is
alienated from society and creates a feeling of social estrangement and
disillusion. He is usually a hard-working, “brooding, menacing, sinister,
sardonic, disillusioned, frightened and insecure” (Tims 1996) loner hidden in
metropolitan architecture who makes his daily way through desolate redlight
districts and other filthy and ghetto-like areas of his environment looking for
possible hints for his work. Furthermore, the protagonist never succeeds in
becoming economically and privately successful. He neither becomes rich, nor
does he find a loving woman. Encarta (2002) considers this phenomenon the
“opposite of the American Dream.” The dark and scary setting of film noir is
the everyday-world of the protagonist. There is no room for peace or real
happiness in his life. Through his eyes the recipient is shown a world
dominated by corruption and greed, violence and crime in which the
protagonist sometimes seems to have difficulties with drawing a clear line
between right and wrong. As a result of this, he sometimes finds himself closer
to the scenery of crime than one would expect a person in his position to be,
e.g. illustrated by a friendship to some “syndicate’s big shot underling” (Blaser
1999) or his fatal affection for a woman from the underworld, which usually

1
particularly as exemplified by Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon and as
Marlowe in The Big Sleep (Crime Culture “Film Noir” 1999).

4
leads to his own downfall. A description of this type of woman – the so called
femme fatale – will follow now.2

1.3 The femme fatale

Besides the male protagonists, the femme fatale resembles the other key iconic
figure of film noir.

She poses seductively both on film posters and on hundreds of mid-

twentieth century pulp covers. The elements of the image are a kind
of visual shorthand for perilous attraction and steamy corruption.
Sometimes the dangerous woman is simply a sexual predator who
tempts and weakens a male protagonist; sometimes she actually
imitates male aggression and appropriates male power. On the
poster or pulp cover she perhaps holds only a cocktail glass and a
smouldering cigarette, or she might hold a gun and might by the end
of the narrative have pulled the trigger. Constrained by the Hays
Code, Hollywood tended to package the femme fatale narrative in
ways that ensured the defeat of the independent female, but such
was the power of the image of the sexual, aggressive, strong woman
that she in many ways, in the minds of audiences, resisted this
formulaic reassertion of male control (Crime Culture “Film Noir”
1999).

So the role of the “mysterious, (…) gorgeous, unloving, predatory, (…)

unreliable, irresponsible, manipulative and desperate” (Tims 1996) femme
fatale in film noir is extraordinarily dominant and seems to be painted far away
from reality. The greatest difference between the ‘real’ and the ‘noir’ woman is
the ambition the on-screen version has (Blaser 1999). Housewives rarely
represent a threat to the men and the patriarchal system. In contrast, the femme
fatale’s industriousness for independence and her sexual powers and ambitions
jeopardize not only the protagonist, but also the entire system behind him in a
tenacious way. Blaser (1999) says that “the femme fatale represents the most
direct attack on traditional womanhood and the nuclear family.” In addition to
the role of the male protagonist and the femme fatale there are of course some
more characteristics of classic film noir which will now be discussed.

2
For a description of the role of the femme fatale in film noir see Blaser 1999.

5
1.4 Further characteristics of classic film noir – Story line, mood, tone,
visual and cinematic elements

One of the most important characteristics of classic film noir is the story line,
because all these films had two similarities:

They were all dark, desperate tales and they were all based in
contemporary settings of the city, or the urban sprawl. Their stories
often centred on law and order, with outsiders, opportunists, losers
and criminals busy plotting revenge or murder. (…) The mood
always remains the same. Classic film noir stories, no matter their
detail, are always pessimistic, obsessive and full of dark intent. Part
of this pessimism is to do with an inescapable fate that reaps its ill
harvest come what may (What makes a classic film noir movie?
With reference to the Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep and Sunset
Boulevard (2000).

Schrader (1972) also sees some common characteristics of classic film noir. He
puts emphasis on film noir as a visual style. He says this genre was
characterised by “mood” and “tone”:

Watching film noirs, I have noticed some elements which they all
have in common. One of the techniques used is the very low key
lighting which obscures the action. The uses of night and shadows
are a recurring factor in noir films, emphasising coldness and
darkness. In the films, the world often seems like a prison, this is
often shown through image metaphors like sun blinds. A lot of use
of extreme low and high angle perspectives which serve to create a
mood of uneasiness and loneliness in noirs (Schrader 1972).

So in the classic film noir the audience is introduced to the dark world of crime,
a world full of shadows, rain drenched streets and sleazy bars. The photography
is equally distinctive. With disorientating camera angles, expressionist,
distorted close-ups and chiaroscuro lighting that fills the frame with shafts of
light and shadow, a claustrophobic world of fear and paranoia is created (Crime
Culture “Film Noir” 1999). These, and many other filmic elements and devices,
constitute meaning in the early films. The focus will now be put on the relations
between the classic film noir and the social and cultural surroundings in the
United States at this particular time.

6
1.5 Historical and social surroundings

“Cinematic noir can be seen as closely related to the modernist crisis of culture
– as reflecting the feelings of nightmarish alienation, disorientation and
disintegration that are often taken as hallmarks of the modernist sensibility.”
This is the first sentence of a definition of the term given on the website of
Crime Culture “Film Noir” (1999). But does the film noir genre really reflect
the American society of the late 30s, 40s and 50s?3 Classical ‘noirish’ films
emerged during and after World War II, greatly influenced by the
circumstances at that time. In order to understand the development of film noir
one has to go even further back and observe the situation in America from the
1930s up to the late fifties. In the thirties the whole country was struggling with
depression and the problems (widespread unemployment etc.) contributed to
this being a difficult time for the American people. When America entered the
battlefields of the Second World War it changed the country and its situation.
While most parts of the world were shattered at the end of the war, the USA
had managed to leap out of the depression, build a high employment rate and
become the undisputed leader of the world without even suffering any sort of
destruction in America. In a way World War II was the best that could have
happened to the United States. They now played the most decisive role in the
world, once again underlining their ambition to be a strong and almost
invincible nation. In the late forties and fifties the American economy was in
full bloom. It seemed like the citizens wanted to make up for all they had
missed out during the depression. Along with the economic boom came the
well-known baby boom and also a high increase in marriages. Families moved
out to live in the suburban communities which, in fact, exploded. By all
appearances, people had the need to build new larger houses. Hence there was a
population increase in metropolitan areas while the number of people living in
agrarian areas decreased heavily. Since the surroundings in the suburban lives
were (and still are) very similar, people longed for some rapport, which most
people found in religious participation. Religion drew large crowds especially

3
The following explanations are mainly based on Hordnes’ (2002) article.

7
because of Cold War issues which put the communists in the position of a new
enemy, matter-of-fact, most people simply saw communists as “Anti-God”.
Thereby religion also became a form of expression for strong patriotism.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, among others, encouraged the American
citizens in their new-found pride and the government liked to make people
think that the good times were there to stay (Hordnes 2002). Post-war life also
had consequences on the lives and roles of family and its members. The hard-
working (male) individual who had always advanced by means of his own
creativity and ability had now become a person within a collective cooperation.
The women, on the other hand, were led back to their pre-war working routine:
the household. It was seen as a matter of obligation that they would leave their
jobs so the veterans could get them back. Most people were content with their
lives at that time, but there was a minority of citizens questioning the new
situation of wealth. They became more and more uneasy while seeing the
American society become more conformist and more materialistic. That was the
point at which two entirely different approaches to life clashed: Idealism and
materialism.

It was also due to the fact that the states were globally involved in
various matters and all these responsibilities were reason enough to scare at
least some of the American people. Another feeling that came up in post World
War II America was a certain “paranoia” (Hordnes 2002). The Americans felt
their new interests threatened by the communists. Of course, this way of
thinking, the breakout of the Cold War, and the development of the so-called
‘McCarthyism’ aggravated the ’Red Scare’ in the heads of the American
people. While America had not been a country known for being a military force
in pre-war times, this was clearly reversed after the Second World War was
over. One of the inevitable consequences this change from peace to cruelty had
on the American people was some sort of shock. Never had the citizens
experienced what brutality human beings were capable of. Everything
mentioned here contributed to the Americans having a feeling of unease about
themselves and about their country. The predominant feelings of alienation and

8
disillusionment were mainly expressed in the artworks of that time. So film noir
can be seen as symptomatic of American society and as a reaction to the darker
sides of reality of the 40s and 50s.

Certainly, film noir was in its prime during the late 40s and 50s. Still,
the concept has not died out yet and every once in a while there are films that
are strongly influenced by film noir or which even represent some kind of
homage to the classics of the genre. These modern films are referred to as new
noirish films or Neo-Noirs. Before one particular Neo-Noir film – Christopher
Nolan’s Memento (2000) – will be discussed in detail, I will first of all focus on
the characteristics of Neo-Noirs and secondly on the so called revenge films,
because these are the two film genres or categories Memento (2000) fits into.

2. Neo-Noir Films

2.1 Definition and Characteristics

For some time there was a tendency among film critics to exclusively use the
term or label noir for the classic films of the 30s, 40s and 50s referred to in
chapter one of this paper. But in recent years, there has been increasing
acceptance of a much more flexible use of the term, especially as far as a
chronological broadening is concerned. On the one hand, the category of film
noir is expanded to pre-World War Two times (e.g. Underworld 1927), and on
the other hand, more importantly, it now includes the “burgeoning phenomenon
of Neo-noir” (Crime Culture “Neo-Noir” 2002). So the noir category – many
critics prefer to use the term category in this particular case instead of speaking
of a strict genre (genres are e.g. western films or science fiction), because the
label film noir invokes more a “network of ideas” or an “organising principle”
– now exists for more than sixty years. The term Neo-Noir, firstly used by
Todd Erickson, refers to films released after the classic period (especially in the
60s, 70s, 80s and 90s), which fulfil central aspects of the classic films, “but take

9
other different generic approaches” (Watts 2002). These central aspects4 are for
example the storyline (dark crime stories), the visual style in terms of
cinematography, the usage of symbolic lighting on characters to portray their
characteristics, close ups, the narrative structure (especially flashbacks are a
typical element in film noir), and of course the characters of the male
protagonist (mostly a loner) and the femme fatale5. Many of the Neo-Noir
films, especially of those created in the 70s and 80s6, including for example
Chinatown released in 1974, can “be considered as pastiches that knowingly,
and lovingly, recreate the style of earlier films albeit in colour and with a
modern sensibility” (Lacey 2001). Most of these films express a “retro and
nostalgic avoidance of contemporary experience” (Crime Culture “Neo-Noir”
2002), and sometimes it feels like they are an escape from contemporary issues.
But there are also many Neo-Noirs which on the one hand “move the genre
forward and so avoid pastiche”7 (Lacey 2001). On the other hand, these films
mirror the characteristics of modern culture and society – most of these films

4
Compare to chapter one.

5
Flippo (1998) considers the following elements the key ingredients for classic film noir.

a) Dark, shadowy, contrasty images filmed in black and white (a contribution of German
Expressionism) -- often at night and usually in a gritty urban setting
b) Required: Hard-boiled, cynical, disillusioned characters -- who are nevertheless
usually likable
c) A male protagonist facing a moral dilemma and/or some kind of threat
d) An alluring, sassy, independent and usually dangerous woman (who often suffers for
independence)
e) Often: A crime or detective story (Cain, Chandler, Hammett)
f) Flashbacks -- a wavering past and present, inextricably linked
g) A voice-over narration (probably why I dislike the narrator-less so-called director's cut
of "Blade Runner")
h) Crisp, often witty dialog, sprinkled with great one-liners
i) Often: A German, Austrian or Austro-Hungarian director of the German school
(Curtiz, Lang, Maté, Preminger, Siodmak, Ulmer, Wilder, et al)
j) A healthy dose of paranoia or, at the very least, a strong sense of insecurity, betrayal,
or being trapped
k) Angst, American style
l) Required for "pure" film noir: NO happy ending. A happy ending turns a film noir into
a film gris or a melodrama done in noir style.
6
but also in the 90s, e.g. in and LA Confidential in 1997
7
A completely new development of film noir is for a example the fusion with the horror genre,
like e.g. in David Lynch’s Lost Highway. So noirish elements enter new film genres, and it’s a
movement away from the traditional detective story.

10
were released in the 90s. A good example of this is the neo-noir film American
Psycho (2000) by Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner, because it perfectly
describes the decadent culture of consumption which is part of every modern
western society.

Comparing modern Neo-Noirs with the classic films there is another

major difference besides the cinematic variations mentioned before: There is a
recognizable influence on film by economical factors and ‘entertainment laws’
nowadays which makes a difference to the film production fifty years ago. It is
obvious that times and taste have changed film (and film noir) and the viewers
as well. A movie like Se7en, for instance, shot in the 90s that deals with the
chase of a mass-murdering psychopath by two metropolitan detectives requires
explicit and detailed description and pictures of violence to be credible. The
viewer needs to see the harm done by a villain to accept the created illusion of a
‘madman’. This development is based on the fact that ‘film’ in most cases tries
to be as realistic as possible to grab the audiences’ attention and therefore it
progresses continuously by the use of advanced technology. It is open to
argument whether this trend is a progress or often just the compensation of a
weak story. If the brutality driven scenes are omitted from Se7en, the movie
might even lose half its thrill - at least for a ‘modern’ audience. So the level of
violence in modern noirish films is usually very high. Violence is often shown
very explicitly whereas in the classic films it was up to the spectator to imagine
the cruelties.

To sum it up one could say that the term noir has become widespread in
academic discourse, and many modern Neo-Noir films have only a few
elements in common with the classic films of the post-World War 2-period. But
the film noir category is still alive and it persistently keeps on developing in
different directions. The number of Neo-Noirs is very high. There have been
more than 300 noir-influenced films8 released since 1971 (Crime Culture “Neo-
Noir” 2002), and noirish elements in films will most probably stay a popular

8
In 1992, for example, twenty-one Neo-Noirs were released.

11
ingredient of modern cinema. I’ll now briefly focus on the role of revenge in
modern film.

3. The Revenge Film

3.1 Common characteristics

Revenge has always been a very popular motive in literature. You can find it
for example in the Bible (“An Eye for an Eye”), in many of Shakespeare’s
plays (like Hamlet), but also in contemporary literature. As far as films are
concerned, one could say that revenge or vigilante justice have always been
“vital elements” (Chamberlain 1995) especially of gangster films and film noir,
– because “revenge is always associated with the gangster myth” (Chamberlain
1995) – but also of films belonging to other genres (e.g. historical films like
Gladiator starring Russel Crowe, Western films, Science Fiction or Horror
films like A Nightmare on Elm Street). One could say that while taking revenge
for a crime is not accepted in modern societies, vigilantism is a very popular
motive in film. No matter the genre, the expectations of the spectators are
always the same: “If you're going to make a revenge movie, you've got to let
the hero get revenge. There's a purity in that. So you set it up: the lead guy gets
screwed over. And then you want to see him kill the bad guys - with his bare
hands if possible" (Chamberlain 1995). Steinbacher gives a few more details
about the typical plot of revenge films:

The standard equation seems to be this: Hero is betrayed. Hero

recovers from betrayal and sets out to exact payback. Paybacks
increase in grisliness (causing audience to whoop louder after each
battle). Final payback is committed, usually in most obscene of
fashion. Fin. This standard equation can be applied to nearly every
revenge film, from the better (Mel Gibson's Payback) to the
absolute worst (I Spit on Your Grave) (Steinbacher 2002).

12
Films involving violent crime often position the viewer to sympathise with the
victim who enacts the revenge9 by killing, “thus establishing the premise that
revenge killing is justified” (Costello 2001). The reasons for this are quite
obvious: Vigilantism in revenge films is often a sign of public frustration in
today’s society, because in most cases the police and courts have “failed to
deliver security and justice” in these films (Costello 2001). This consequently
creates a situation that makes personal revenge10 appear necessary and justified
in the eyes of the spectators.

I’ll now focus on the analysis of the narrative structure of Christopher

Nolan’s Memento (2000), a very popular modern neo-noirish revenge film.

4. Analysis of the narrative structure of Christopher Nolan’s Memento

4.1 A Plot Summary

Somewhere in LA, the present. Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) is a former

insurance investigator whose wife was killed. Shelby tried to intervene on his
wife’s murder but he couldn’t help her. While he was able to shoot down and
kill one of the two anonymous intruders, the other one knocked him down and
escaped. As a result of a head trauma he “sustained during the confrontation”
with the intruders, he now suffers from “severe anterograde memory
dysfunction” (Memento Official Website 2000). His short-term memory
basically doesn’t exist any more – his current “attention span lasts roughly 15
minutes (and even less when he’s stressed or distracted” (Klein 2001) – , and
he’s unable to create new long-term memories. The interesting thing about “this
condition”, as Leonard himself calls it, is the fact that he can perfectly
remember everything prior to the accident. He knows who he is, what his
former job was, and he remembers what life with his wife was like. But when

9
Mostly revenge is taken for a murder or a rape. This crime is usually shown in the beginning
of the revenge film or in flashback-scenes. The rape-revenge cycle can be read as one of the
primary ways in which Hollywood has attempted to make sense of feminism and the changing
shape of heterosexual femininity in the post-1970 period.
10
usually by committing a murder

13
he wakes up in a cheap motel, he neither knows where he is, nor what he’s
doing there. He’s even unable to remember people he met the day before. He
can’t trust anyone, and his whole life is a rather obsessive and paranoid sort of
puzzle solving. But there is one thing in his life he knows for sure. He wants to
take revenge. Nothing else matters to him.

Since the police couldn’t help him find the murderer, Leonard starts to
search on his own. He spends every waking moment trying to avenge his wife,
but having this memory handycap makes finding the murderer extremely
difficult. Therefore, Leonard has developed a couple of strategies to help
himself remember the things he step by step finds out about the terrible crime.
He takes Polaroids of everything and everyone and keeps them in his pockets,
scrawling notes on the back as he goes along. He also tattoos the very important
information on his body (“John G. raped and killed your wife.” The license
plate number. The fact that the murderer was a drug dealer etc.). He has a file
on the police investigation into his wife’s death several inches thick and a map
of people and places with slots for pictures, notes and directions. He even has
help by two rather dubious characters who definitely know more than they let
on. One of them is Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss) whom Shelby trusts since she
has lost a loved one, too. Lenny doesn’t realize that she only wants to take
revenge for her boyfriend – a drug dealer named James G. which was killed by
Lenny before. In his eyes this guy was the murderer of his wife. But
meanwhile, Lenny (of course) has forgotten this incident and is now searching
for another “one and only murderer.” The other character who pretends to help
Lenny (but his real intentions seem to be slightly crueler) is Teddy (Joe
Pantoliano) – whose real name is John G. and whose license plate number is the
same as the number on Lenny’s arm. In the end, this guy is killed by Lenny, as
well.11

11
And maybe, 15 minutes later the whole hunt might start again. And it’s certainly not very
hard to find another John or James G. in a city like Los Angeles who coincidentally fits to some
of his rather vague information.

14
 The viewers of Memento easily find out, that they can’t trust in the
investigation of a mentally ill character like Leonard Shelby. There are several
hints that human memory in general is unreliable and that we are dealing in this
film with an extremely unreliable narrator. On the one hand, Leonard can easily
become the object of other’s manipulation. That means the information he has
gathered might partly be useless and unreliable, because some guys want to
deceive him (Teddy, for example). On the other hand, Lenny himself commits
certain mistakes while collecting the data about his wife’s murderer. For
instance, he mistakes an I for a 1 while writing down Teddy’s license plate
number12. Later in the film the license plate has really changed according to
Lenny’s tattoo. So the message for the viewer is: Don’t trust Lenny’s pseudo
facts because memory can manipulate everything or as Lenny puts it: “Memory
can change the shape of a room; it can change the colour of a car. (…) They are
just an interpretation, they’re not a record.” Interpretation and speculation are
also very important when you try to understand Memento.

In addition to Leonard’s revenge story there’s also a very interesting

sub-plot or parallel tale in Memento. It’s the story of Sammy Jankins and his
wife: As an insurance investigator Leonard had a curious case. He had to find
out whether Sammy Jankins’ anterograde amnesia – a result of a car accident
this guy had had – was a mental or a physical problem. Leonard dismissed
Sammy’s condition as “psychological rather than physical, resulting in the
refusal of Sammy's insurance claim” (the company didn’t cover mental illness)
(Belling 2001). Sammy's diabetic wife, thinking that if his amnesia problem is
mental it must also be voluntary, tries to get him to "snap out of it by testing
him in various ways” (Belling 2001; Klein 2001): Knowing that her husband
loves her and that he would never do her any harm she finally asks him to give
her three or four insulin shots in quick succession13 – she always receives her
insulin shots from her husband. Since Sammy doesn’t realize the fact that he
gives his wife an overdose, she sinks into an irreparable coma. Her husband
12
For an analysis of Memento according to the statement that you can never trust your
memories see Duncker (2002).
13
although getting more than one shot at a time can be very dangerous

15
“ends up institutionalized” (Belling 2001). What makes this sub-plot so
interesting is the fact that the story of Sammy Jankins may in fact be the story
of Leonard Shelby. Perhaps this whole parallel story wants to show the viewer
that Leonard's own wife was killed not by a murderer but by Leonard himself14,
and the revenge motivation was possibly planted by Teddy in order to make of
Leonard a very efficient killer (Belling 2001).

Besides the rather interesting story told in Memento there is one thing
that makes this film even more interesting: the narrative structure. I’ll now
focus on this particular aspect.

4.2 The Narrative Structure

Memento has a very fragment and non-linear narrative structure. The use of a
non-linear narrative is nothing new, as it has often been used in the past,
especially by directors such “as Atom Egoyan (Exotica) and Wong Kar-Wai (In
the Mood for Love), to slowly reveal relationships among characters and circle
the story back to a key precipitating event” (Leong 2001). Such a structure has
also been used by Quentin Tarrantino in Pulp Fiction and Jacky Brown, but in
both films it was more or less a storytelling gimmick. In Memento it’s
completely different because in this film the fragment and non-linear narrative
structure puts the audience into the shoes of the protagonist. Through this
structure the viewers become detectives themselves. For a long time, they’re
struggling as much as Leonard does, to create a “coherent narrative out of all
the pieces” (Fuchs 2001) they confront. Nolan gives the film noir genre’s
tendency to confound the viewers’ expectations a conceptual twist by linking
the flow of the narrative to” (British Film Institute 2000) the condition of the
protagonist.

14
Because of his condition he might have forgotten the murder and might have made up a
different scenario in his mind.

16
 The whole film can be divided in 22 colour and 22 black and white
sequences plus a very important opening credit. The function of these different
types of scenes and the way they are arranged in Memento will no be discussed.

4.2.1 Colour Scenes

According to the chronological order plot table by Daniel Zhu (2001) (compare
to chapter 7 of this paper) the different colour scenes will from now on be
described with letters from A to V, with A being the first sequence seen from a
chronological point of view. The interesting thing about these colour sequences,
which show the main story of Leonard searching for the murderer of his wife as
a series of three-to-eight minute segments, is there reverse appearance in the
film. Each of these rather small chunks represents the complete length of Shelby’s
memory capabilities (Holm 2001). The story is told backwards and scene by scene
the audience gets more information about the reasons for the murder Lenny
commits in the very first sequence of the film. It’s kind of a puzzle solving. The
viewers find new pieces of the puzzle in every new scene. But the meaning of
most of these pieces is not evident from the sequence they firstly appear in. Just like a
detective who step by step gets more circumstantial evidence while investigating, the
viewers have to be extraordinarily attentive and wait for the sequence explaining a
particular hint hidden in one of the preceding scenes. Thus a broken car window shown
in one of the first colour sequences of the film (V) is not explained until scene M,
which means that the viewers have to wait approximately fifty minutes to get the
essential background information. But in some cases the spectators don’t have to wait
that long to get the necessary clues: For example, “a busted lip in one sequence is
explained in the next,” (Holm 2001) which actually happened right before, seen from a
chronological perspective.

Since the story of Memento is told backwards – like mentioned before –

it necessarily has to start at the end (V), showing Leonard killing Teddy, and
finish near the beginning (A), showing Lenny killing Jimmy the drug dealer.
The order of appearance of the colour sequences in the film is
V,U,T,S…..D,C,B,A. Each of the colour scenes either ends exactly where the

17
previous one began or shows a particular part of the preceding scene once
again, mostly from a different camera perspective. These repetitions of events
launch the viewers “repeatedly into Leonard’s moment-to-moment existence by
beginning again and again, as if it hasn’t begun before. In this way, “the movie (…)
emulates Leonard’s own struggle to make sense of what’s happening to and around
him” (Fuchs 2001). The repetition of events may remind some viewers of Tom
Tykwer’s Lola Rennt (1998) or Run Rola Run as it was called in the USA. Christopher
Nolan has elected the reverse structure with all these repetitions to confuse the
audience and to put them in the head of the protagonist, who suffers anterograde
amnesia.

I’ll now turn to a description of the black and white sequences in Memento.

4.2.2 Black and White Scenes

Besides the colour sequences which run in reverse order and tell the main story
(compare to the chronological plot order table in chapter 7 in this paper: scenes
A to V), there are also black and white scenes in Memento (scenes 1 to 22).
These scenes alternate with the colour sequences and run in forward order.
They show Leonard in his hotel room talking on the phone and telling the oddly
parallel story of Sammy Jankins, illustrated for the viewer with “visual
flashbacks” (Klein 2001). The story told in the black and white scenes can be
considered a frame plot that helps the viewers to understand when the things
described in the colour scenes actually happen. The spectators find out that all
the events described and shown in the black and white scenes happened before
the story told in the colour scenes. So the black and white sequences are more
or less a successively told flashback. And intentionally, the final black white
scene (22) smoothly changes to colour and perfectly fits into the next colour
scene (A), which is the last scene shown in the film. So the colour and the black
and white scenes come together at the climax of the film – the scene showing
Leonard kill Teddy (22, A, Opening Scene). To sum it up one could say that
although the chronological order of the scenes in Nolan’s Memento is

18
1,2,3,4,5…..22,A,B,C,D,E……V, Opening Sequence, the film actually plays
the scenes like this: Opening Sequence, 1,V,2,U,3,T,4,S…..22,A.

As far as cinematography is concerned, the black and white sequences

offer a very objective view of Leonard’s character. The audience watches the
protagonist in his hotel room from a third person or security camera point of
view. The colour scenes, on the other hand, are very subjective and from
Leonard’s point of view. The camera is always kind of over his shoulder or
right behind him in these scenes and there are many close-ups of the main
character. The audience is shown details that only Lenny can see. Through this
way of filming the protagonist a very close relationship between the viewers
and Lenny is constructed.

No doubt, understanding the structure of Memento is not easy,

especially when you’re watching the film for the very first time. But it’s
interesting to see how director Christopher Nolan tries to help the viewers
comprehend the narrative of this film. Already in the first view minutes of
Memento there are several hints which can be considered a helping hand for the
viewers or a guide to the narrative. The opening scene, which will now be
described in detail, offers several of these hints mentioned.

4.2.3 The Opening Scene

The opening scene of Christopher Nolan’s Memento is the only scene in the
entire film that literally runs backwards and that is shown in slow-motion. This
scene is probably supposed to help the viewers understand the narrative
structure of Memento. In it, we see a Polaroid undevelop, a bullet fly back up
the barrel of a gun and Teddy come back to life “after” the sound of a shot. So
the viewers are reversely shown the revenge murder of Teddy commited by
Leonard Shelby, an incident that actually takes place at the very end of the plot,
seen from a chronological point of view. We see Lenny killing the man for
“whom he will be searching throughout the entire film” (Shahinvar 2001). By
recognising that everything in this particular sequence is running backwards the
19
viewers are perfectly sensitized to the mainly reverse narrative structure of the
rest of the film. Their supposition about the reverse narrative is confirmed for
the very first time in the third colour scene of Memento when the viewers
realize that they are watching parts of the sequence they’ve already watched
before, but additionally, they now get information about what happened in
advance.

There’s one more detail in this scene that has a meaning for the rest of
the film. The vanishing colours on the Polaroid can be compared to Lenny’s
condition. Every new memory he tries to make is lost after a few minutes and
cannot be recalled – in case he doesn’t take photos of it or makes notes. After
15 minutes his brain is as blank as the Polaroid he holds in his hand at the end
of the opening scene. So in this particular sequence the viewers are also
introduced to Lenny’s amnesia problem. Furthermore, the fact that the
“undeveloping-process” of the Polaroid is not shown in one piece but in several
parts gives the viewers another hint that the narrative of this film might not be
as linear as the structure of most films.

5. Conclusion
It’s obvious that there is a conventional noir and revenge story behind
Memento: A husband (former private investigator) seeks revenge on the person
who murdered his wife and left him with his condition. The police couldn’t
help him find the murderer. The only help he has is his rather dubiously
“motived friend and a tough female barmaid” (Franklin 2001), who certainly
has some character traits of the typical femme fatale. Furthermore, the whole
story – and this is also typical of the film noir genre – plays in an absolutely
anonymous, bleak, and empty environment that “accentuates the loneliness”
(Shahinfar 2001) of the protagonist. Typical moods of classic film noir, such as
alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, pessimism, evil, guilt and particularly
paranoia, can be found in Memento. Additionally, the story is full of noirish

20
flashbacks and it has no happy ending. But what makes this film so special and
different from other neo-noir or revenge films?

It’s the uniquely structured narrative. Although the story behind the film
is rather simple, the narrative structure is extremely complex and clever, which
demands constant attention from its spectators. The amnesia problem of the
protagonist and his chaotic and often pitiful attempts to step by step put the
puzzle of his wife’s murder together are intelligently linked to the way the
whole story is told. The reverse narrative structure of the main plot with its
conclusion being revealed in the first five minutes of the film, the alternation of
colour and black and white sequences, and the fact that a few aspects of the film
are shown more than once, are supposed to make the viewers feel as confused
as Leonard is – of course, the closer the film gets to the end the less the viewers
are confused because they can remember things Leonard can’t. Franklin (2001)
considers Memento a “sign of a film that may have had a low budget, but came
together with a LOT of thought, cleverness and above all patience” (Franklin
2001). Because of the unique and complex style of story-telling this film not
only requires but also deserves multiple viewings.

21
6. References

- American Psycho (2000). Film DVD. Concorde.

- Belling, Catherine (2001). Film Annotations Memento. Online available at:
http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webfilms/
memento123-film-.html (19/02/2003).
- Blaser, John (1999). No Place for a Woman: The Family in Film Noir – The
Femme Fatale. Online available at: http://www.lib. berkeley.edu/
MRC/noir/np05ff.html (23/03/2003).
- British Film Institute (2000). Memento. Online available at:
http://www.bfi.org.uk.sightandsound/2000_11/memento.html (20/02/2003).
- Cameron, Ian (eds.) (1993). The Movie Book of Film Noir. New York:
Continuum.
- Chamberlain, Bridge (1994). Revenge of the Killer Genre. Online available
at: http://www.film.queensu.ca/Critical/Chamberlain1.html (06/02/2003).
- Chinatown (1974). Film VHS.
- Copjec, Joan (eds.) (1993). Shades of Noir. London, New York: Verso.
- Costello, Amy (2001): Film Report – A Time to Kill, Sleepers, An Eye for an
Eye. Online available at: http://www.planetpapers.com/ Assets/3709.php
(14/02/2003).
- Crime Culture “Film Noir” (1999): Online available at:
http://crimeculture.com/Contents/Film%20Noir.html (07/03/2003).
- Crime Culture “Neo-Noir” (2002). Online available at:
http://crimeculture.com/Contents/ NeoNoir.html (06/03/2003).
- Dirks, Tim (1996). Film Noir. Online available at:
http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html (03/03/2003).
- Encarta 2002 Encyclopedia World Deutsche Ausgabe. (2001)
Redmond, Washington: Microsoft Corp..
- Flippo, Hyde (1998). The Noir Connection. Online available at:
http://www.german-way.com/german/noir.html (14/02/2003).
- Franklin, Garth (2001). Dark Horizons – A Film Review of Memento. Online
available at: http://www.darkhorizons.com/reviews/mem-n.htm (21/02/2003).

22
- Fuchs, Cynthia (2001). Memento. Online unter: http://www.popmatters.com/
film/reviews/m/memento.html (23/02/2003).
- Holm, D. K. (2001). Thanks fort he Memories. Online available at:
http://www.portlandmercury.com/2001-02-08/film.html (21/02/2003).
- Hordnes, Lise (2002). Does Film Noir mirror the culture of contemporary
America? Online available at: http://odur.let.rug.nl/ ~usa/E/noir/noir02.htm
(09/03/2003).
- Klein, Andy (2001). Everything you wanted to know about “Memento“.
Online available at: http://dir.salon.com/ent/ movies/feature/2001/06/28/
memento_analysis/ index.html?pn=1 (02/02/2003).
- LA Confidential (1997). Film VHS.
- Lacey, Nick (2001). Film Noir – Extracted von Se7en. Online available at:
http://www.nicklacey.org.uk/university/extras/ Film%20noir.htm
(23/03/2003).
- Leong, Anthony (2001). Memento Movie Review. Online available at:
http://www.mediacircus.net.memento.html (18/02/2003).
- Nolan, Jonathan (2001). Memento Mori. Online available at:
http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2001/001323_mfr_memento_9.html
(23/03/2003).
- Memento (2000). Film DVD. Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment.
- Memento Official Website (2000). http://www.otnemem.com (03/03/2003).
- Duncker, Jonathan (2002). Memento Trivia: Memory is treachery. Online
available at: http://www.christophernolan.net/ memento_mem.php
(21/02/2003).
- Schrader, Paul (1972). “Notes on Film Noir.” In: Silver, Alain & Ursini,
James (Eds.) (1996). Film Noir Reader. Limelight.
- Shahinvar, Jason (2001). Memento not easily forgotten. Online available at:
http://www.jhu.edu/~newslett/04-12-01/Arts/2.html (16/02/2003).
- Steinbacher, Bradley (2002). Revenge – Perdition Rules. Online available at:
http://www.thestranger.com/2002-07-11/film3.html (08/03(2003).
- The Big Sleep (1946). Film VHS. Warner Studios.
- The Maltese Falcon (1941). Film VHS. Warner Studios.

23
- Touch of Evil (1957). Film VHS. Warner Studios.
- Underworld (1927). Film VHS.
- Watts, David (2002). Generic Convention and Sexual Representation in Fight
Club. Online available at: http://www.frame24.co.uk/ articles/fightclub.html
(04/03/2003).
- What makes a classic film noir movie? With reference to the Maltese Falcon,
The Big Sleep and Sunset Boulevard (2000). Online available at:
http://www.g.g.theseed.net/malesweb2/filmtv.1.htm (09/03/2003).
- Zhu, Daniel (2001). Movie “Memento” Plot FAQ. Online available at:
http://www. designpattern.org/mementofaq.htm (03/04/2003).

24
7. The Chronological Order Plot Table15

Time
Scene
(on Story
Number
DVD)
1 black 2:35 Lenny wakes up in a hotel inn.
and white
(bw)
2 bw 6:24 Lenny explains his condition and makes a few notes.

3 bw 10:30 He’s shaving his face. The phone rings.

4 bw 16:13 Lenny starts to tell the story of Sammy Jankins (parallel plot).
5 bw 20:16 Lenny continues explaining.
6 bw 26.43 Lenny continues explaining with flashback of interviewing Sammy on
his insurance claim.
7 bw 31:41 Lenny continues explaining with flashback of testing on Sammy and
explains what is "conditioning".
8 bw 39:26 Lenny says he has "conditioning" ability which is different from
Sammy.
9 bw 45:00 Lenny continues explaining with flashback of Sammy's desperate
wife.
10 bw 48:54 Lenny continues explaining. Then the other side says to call back
later. Lenny hangs up the phone.
11 bw 52:05 Lenny prepares to make a tattoo on his thigh: FACT-- Access to Drug
12 bw 53:33 Lenny continues preparing. Somebody calls in again.
13 bw 56:36 Lenny continues his talking on the phone. The other side mentions
some drug information on the man Lenny is looking for. Lenny
checks the police file.
14 bw 59:28 It seems that the information fits into the police file. So Lenny
convinces himself that John G. is a drug dealer.
15 bw 1:02:36 Lenny changes "Access to Drug" to "Drug Dealer" and makes a
tattoo for it. He continues his talking on the phone with flashback of
Sammy's wife asking him his honest opinion about Sammy.
16 bw 1:09:19 Lenny suddenly finds the "Never Answer Any Call " tattoo on his arm.
Lenny asks the other side "Who is this?". The other side hangs up the
phone.
17 bw 1:12:56 The other side calls back. Lenny hangs it up and calls front desk Burt
to block all the phone calls.
18 bw 1:17:14 Burt comes up, saying that a cop keeps calling. Lenny refuses to take
the call again.
19 bw 1:21:41 The putative cop keeps calling and passes a photo under the door. In
the photo, Lenny sees himself pointing to his own chest and smiling
with blood all over the body.
20 bw 1:23:15 Lenny takes the call and asks why the other side calls him.
21 bw 1:26:29 Lenny tells the story of Sammy wife's final exam on Sammy and her
death of overdose insulin.

15
mainly based on Zhu, Daniel (2001)

25
 Time
Scene
(on Story
Number
DVD)
22 bw 1:33:57 Lenny continues his talking on the phone,thinking he has got the
information of John G or James G. He goes downstairs to meet the
caller (Officer Gammel) and Teddy is there. He takes a photo of
Teddy and wants to write down name Gammel. Teddy tells him to
write Teddy, not Gammel. Teddy also tells him where Jimmy Grant
(John G.) will show up. Lenny goes to the place, meets Jimmy and
kills him. He changes into Jimmy's clothes. He takes the photo of
Jimmy. While he is flapping the photograph, the scene changes
from black/white to colour and fits into the next scene (A)
seamlessly.
A colour 1:39:42 After finishing flapping the photo, Lenny drags Jimmy to the
(c) basement. Teddy shows up. In their conversation, Teddy tells his
version of the whole story to Lenny. Lenny doesn't believe or doesn't
want to believe him. He tries to manipulate himself to set Teddy as
the next John G target in order to kill him finally. He writes down
"Don't believe his lies" on the back of Teddy's photo. He unloads his
gun and burns the photos to fool himself that he never finishes the
revenge. And he writes down Teddy's plate number as fact of John
G's plate number. He drives Jimmy's car away with 20 grand in the
trunk. He has some flashback in the mind, questioning the existence
of world and memory stuff until he sees a tattoo shop.
Bc 1:30:10 He goes into the tattoo shop and makes the tattoo of the licence
number. Teddy catches up for the money in the trunk. He wants
Lenny to leave the town. He also tells Lenny a story about another
cop. Lenny has forgotten everything now. But he sees the words he
has put down on Teddy's photo. He decides not to trust Teddy and
sneaks away. He doesn't know where to go. He finds a note in the
pocket of Jimmy's clothes, assuming it is for him. Following the notes,
he goes to Ferdy's bar to meet Jimmy's girl friend--Natalie.
Cc 1:23:37 Since he is in Jimmy's clothes and car, Natalie wants to know what
happened to Jimmy. She only knows that Jimmy is going to meet a
guy named Teddy, who she doesn't know. And she also knows that
there is a guy with mental problem around from a cop. She uses a
disgusting method to test Lenny's memory problem.
Dc 1:22:27 After the testing, Natalie thinks Lenny's problem is real.
Ec 1:17:49 Natalie brings Lenny back to her house. They talks about the case on
Lenny. Then Natalie goes back to work. After a while, Natalie comes
back again and looks nervous.
Fc 1:13:30 Natalie says Jimmy is missing and Jimmy's partner Dodd is looking
for him and his 20 grand. Natalie tells Lenny that Dodd thinks she is
involved and threats her. She hopes that Lenny can help her by
getting rid of Dodd. Lenny refuses at first. So Natalie hides all the
pens in the house and begins provoking Lenny until Lenny hits her
hard. She goes out, sitting in the car and waiting Lenny to forget
everything. In the meantime, Lenny tries to find a pen to write these
down.
Gc 1:09:54 Natalie comes back. Lenny hasn't found a pen and forgets everything.
Natalie lies to Lenny that she went to talk with Dodd as Lenny
suggested but got beaten up. Lenny decides to help her. Natalie
writes down Dodd's information for Lenny. Lenny goes to the car and
sees Teddy inside.

26
 Time
Scene
(on Story
Number
DVD)
Hc 1:04:52 Teddy tells Lenny that Natalie is not trustful and both Natalie and
Jimmy was involved in drug. They use cup pad to exchange
information in the bar. He tries to let Lenny write down "Natalie is not
trustful" on the back of Natalie's photo but fails. He tells Lenny not to
go back and gives him the address (Discount Inn) of the place where
Lenny lives. Lenny has forgotten where he lives apparently. And now
he has forgotten the business on Dodd. Lenny decides to go back to
his own place.
Ic 1:00:10 He goes back to discount inn. He calls for a hooker. He has her try to
re-create the scene from the night he and his wife were attacked.
Jc 57:28 He wakes up in the night by the intended noise made by the hooker.
He discharges the hooker and goes to a place to burn his wife's
belongings.
Kc 53:42 He burns the stuff and has some flashback of his wife.
Lc 52:20 While Lenny is driving back from the place in Jimmy's car, Dodd spots
the car coincidently. Dodd begins to chase Lenny.
Mc 49:22 Lenny runs away. He tries to find what is going on. He finds Natalie's
note of Dodd's description and his address. He thinks the man
chasing him is Dodd. He decides to go to Dodd's place to wait for
Dodd and get rid of Dodd for Natalie.
Nc 46:02 While he is sitting in the toilet at Dodd's place, he forgets what he is
doing now. He thinks he is in his own room and begins to take a
shower. Dodd comes back. Lenny thinks Dodd is an intruder and hits
Dodd hard. He ties Dodd up. Now Lenny doesn't know what to do. He
finds the note about Dodd and knows that he can contact Teddy or
Natalie. He has only Teddy's number. So he calls Teddy to leave a
message. He falls asleep while waiting Teddy.
Oc 40:10 Teddy comes. Lenny has forgotten what happened. Anyway, they
decide to send Dodd out of town. Lenny goes to Natalie's place to ask
why he is involved with Dodd.
Pc 36:26 Natalie explains it to Lenny. And Lenny sleeps in Natalie's house.
Natalie sees the tattoos on Lenny's body and offers help to look up
the plate number (Teddy's license number) of John G for Lenny.
Qc 28:32 In the next morning, Natalie writes Lenny a note to schedule the
meeting with Lenny so Natalie can gives the information on plate
number to Lenny. When Lenny leaves the house, he bumps into
Teddy again.
Rc 22:54 He has a meal with Teddy, talking about the stuff on unreliable
memory, etc. Then Lenny goes back to the discount inn. He finds out
that the greedy Burt has checked him into two rooms actually. While
talking with Burt, he finds he needs to go to see Natalie immediately.
Sc 16:56 He meets Natalie. Natalie shows that the owner of the plate number is
John Edward Gammel (Teddy) from San Francisco. She has got the
copy of his driver license. She says that the person on the license
photo looks familiar. She also tells Lenny a place which is good for
killing. The place is the place where Lenny killed Jimmy.
Tc 11:07 Lenny goes back to discount inn and begins to analyse the docs
provided by Natalie. Of course, he draws the conclusion that Teddy is
John G. He decides to kill him and calls Teddy to come.
Uc 7:01 Lenny meets Teddy at the door of the inn.

27
 Time
Scene
(on Story
Number
DVD)
Vc 2:58 Lenny drives Teddy to the place and kills Teddy.
Opening 00:00- This scene is not a new scene. Basically, it is the opening credit. And
Credit 2:34 it plays back the part that Lenny is killing Teddy in reverse order. The
normal order scene is at the end of V.

28