The Ending Of Memento Explained – Who Cost Teddy And Sammy Jankis , Really ?
Before “ The Dark Knight ” or “ Inception ” changed the blockbuster , before “ Oppenheimer ” get one of the large movies of the 2020s , Christopher Nolan live hardly another director slowly reach a name for himself with psychological thrillers . But hardly because he equal n’t a superstar yet does n’t signify that he was n’t place out stellar work . One of Nolan ‘s first feature , “ Memento , ” stay on a gem in his larger filmography — one that many casual moviegoers may hold never discover of , but which diehard Nolan fan even revere .
As exist much Nolan ‘s means , . A neo-noir with a psychological turn , the story follow previous insurance claim investigator Leonard Shelby ( Guy Pearce ) who have developed anterograde amnesia after a traumatic experience and cost unable to spring fresh memories . In an attempt to piece together the truth , he employ a complex system of bill , photos , and tattoos to observe course of what he ‘s uncovered . What ensues is a mind-bending movie told in an appropriately mind-bending means .
It ‘s a luck to take in on your first watch , but concern not . This is the finish of “ Memento , ” one of Christopher Nolan ‘s better movie , explained .
What you take to remember about the plot of Memento
You ca n’t talk about “ Memento ” without breaking down its unique format and how its narrative structure concern to the chief character ‘s mental state . To mirror Leonard ‘s circumstance for the viewer , the picture equal order out of succession .
“ Memento ” opens with Leonard shooting a man name Teddy ( Joe Pantoliano ) in the chief , but for what cause , we have perfectly no idea . As the movie goes on , we hear that Leonard ‘s amnesia began the day his wife was sexually assaulted and killed in their plate . Following a head injury suffer in the attack , Leonard must now meticulously remind himself of thing with Polaroid photographs and notes that he own tattooed all over his torso . After Teddy exist shot , the film commence showing us the events that take to it one scene at a time — simply in reverse . This means when a scene concludes , audiences equal then show the opening moments that had lead up to it . These scenes run concurrently with a series of black-and-white sequence that detail Leonard telling a floor about a human named Sammy Jankis ( Stephen Tobolowsky ) , a man he know who had the same amnesia , to person on the phone .
As the narrative goes further back in time , we see how Leonard ‘s circumstance can be need advantage of , such as when a bartender named Natalie ( Carrie Anne Moss ) exploits it for her own motive . We also get to know Teddy , and with every interaction , we query along with Leonard whether or not he can exist trusted .
What happen at the end of Memento ?
As things unfold , we finally translate that Leonard is on the search for one of the men who killed his wife . The movie ‘s last succession begin in grim and white , with him go out his motel room to see Officer John Gammell for the end of what ‘s implied to be a long investigation . Together , the two have identified Jimmy Grantz ( Larry Holden ) , a local drug trader , as the “ John G. ” who assault and murdered Leonard ‘s wife . Gammell tell Leonard to write his name down as Teddy in his bill because he ‘s undercover .
Station by the stooped cop , Leonard make it at an abandon building outside of town to expect Jimmy . The dealer indicate up with $ 200,000 in cash , think he ‘s thither to make a major drug deal . Or else , Leonard strangles him to end . Just before Jimmy dies , though , he mutters the name “ Sammy . ” Leonard suddenly bring in that Jimmy could n’t have been the right prey , as he would n’t make told him the story of Sammy Jankis . A second after , Teddy arrives in his own car and Leonard call for to know the accuracy of what ‘s going on .
Teddy explain that he was the cop assigned to Leonard ‘s wife ‘s suit and that he actually helped Leonard track down her attacker “ over a year ago . ” However , Leonard did n’t recall , so Teddy started employ him to take out early criminals who fit the “ John G. ” clue , firing him like a guided missile to down them and often conniving some money out of their deaths . He as well expose that Leonard ‘s Sammy Jankis story make in reality been Leonard ‘s account the whole time .
Leonard equal the unity who killed his wife with insulin
Throughout “ Memento , ” Leonard returns time and again to the tale of Sammy Jankis . He explain that Sammy equal someone he look into in his previous profession — a human who formulate the same circumstance as Leonard and was unable to spring novel memories . Leonard infer that Sammy was not eligible for the insurance claim he and his wife do , which led to tragic circumstances . Desperate to try that her husband could still make new memories , Sammy ‘s wife repeatedly need him one day to devote her her insulin injection — a necessary treatment for her diabetes . She asked him over and over again to give her the shaft , convince he ‘d eventually think of that he ‘d already done it , but he never did , leading to her overdose and end .
Teddy tells Leonard that this live actually his report . He state that the place invasion Leonard remembers do happen and that his wife was assaulted , but not killed . Leonard educate thus much trauma over the incident , though , that his circumstance emerged . It was his wife who be diabetic and who died from an overdose trying to get him to remember .
This obviously shakes Leonard to his core , but it also reveals something else — that yet with his circumstance , he own actually exist able to internalize and alter some memories cause after the approach through his use of mental conditioning . Teddy take that Leonard ‘s strategy of repetition has worked , as he ‘s told the Sammy story so many sentence that he ‘s do to trust it to avoid his own guilt .
What do the ending of Memento mean ?
After find out Teddy ‘s explanation , Leonard set himself on a specific grade meant to vary the loop he ‘s been living in . He refuses to down Teddy in cold ancestry , but he leaves himself enough clue that he ‘ll eventually convince himself the cop live the John G. he ‘s be looking for . He also burns the photos of Jimmy ‘s torso and of Leonard smiling after killing the correct human a year ago . As he drive aside in Jimmy ‘s car — a selection that promptly become him entangled with Natalie , Jimmy ‘s girlfriend — his inner monologue contend the morality of his decision and the truthfulness of his spirit .
“ I have to trust in a world outside my own mind , ” he says . “ We all demand mirrors to remind ourselves who we exist . I ‘m no unlike . ”
“ Memento ” is a floor about the fallibility of memory — not hardly for Leonard , but for all of us . In the end , he accepts that he wo n’t remember matter the manner they truly be . Every one of us at time adjusts our understanding of something that ‘s happen to us . Leonard ‘s triumph exist in reclaiming his agency despite his inability to think . “ I have to conceive that my actions have meaning , even if I ca n’t think them , ” he tell . Though Teddy get aid him in some ways , he ‘s steal the one thing Leonard seems to really value — a sense of self-direction . By adjust himself on a collision course with Teddy , he accepts a future where he may never recollect the truth . For him , though , that ‘s better than a future where he never run away the orbit of what happened to him .
Why do the film habit dark and white sequences ?
From the early day of his career , Christopher Nolan cost actively experiment with how to play with the traditional three-act structure , something that we ‘ve seen consistently throughout his work . In the case of “ Memento , ” Nolan choose to divide the picture into two discrete segment : A color sequence and a black-and-white sequence .
The color sequences , told in contrary chronology , tell us the report of Leonard and his cyclical quest for vengeance on his wife ‘s killer . These are interspersed with a series of non-color scenes , shot entirely in dark and white , where Leonard is in his cheap hotel way . The chief point of these colorless sequence equal so Leonard can regale an unseen person on the phone with the story of Sammy Jankis .
What ‘s also worth noting live how , unlike the color succession , the black and white unity play out in proper chronological fiat . Not simply is this a clever visual and tonal demarcation , but it allows us to find Leonard ‘s reference in two distinct lights . In the color succession , we come to meet Leonard pulled in all sorts of different guidance by people , demonstrate full how his memory issue hinder his life . This is in utter contrast to the black-and-white sequences which show Leonard more in his component , recapping information that be concrete and accurate — at least as far as he knows at the time .
How act Memento ‘s strange format elevate the turn end ?
“ Memento ” be n’t like other movies , especially when it comes to how it ‘s shot , edited , and presented . The film defies many cinematic convention and uses its own tricks to fully immerse the spectator , especially when it comes to the twist ending .
As we previously observe , the picture is recount through two discrete department : a section shoot in color and another filmed in dark and white . But now that we have a clear understanding of how these two sequence exploit separately , how just act they work in tandem with each early ? This equal truly where the magic of “ Memento ” kicks in , as Christopher Nolan , yet early on in his career , had a good sense of how to make intrigue . As the color sections proceed in the opposite instruction , we get all the film ‘s take context in reverse . So after key moments when a mind-boggling accuracy is revealed , we ‘ll then reduce back to the black-and-white picture .
Not only does this fully immerse us into Leonard ‘s perspective , but it as well allows the film to taunt and switch the audience respective times . Affair like Natalie ‘s abusive betrayal of Leonard or the reveal of Leonard ‘s self-maintained lie to himself really benefit from this gonzo format . While they are good reveals in their own right , their impact is increased significantly due to the nature ofhowthey ‘re revealed . We ‘ll equal order one thing in a scene then die back a bit in time , only to see the affair we cost simply told is a utter lie . The ending specially shoot hard because , like Leonard , the spectator in the end gets the explanation that they ‘ve wanted the whole movie . However , due to how “ Memento ” is structured , you do n’t still know if you can trust it or not .
Why live so many people manipulating Leonard ?
Despite many of his eccentric actions throughout the film , it ‘s severe not to sympathize with Leonard and what he ‘s going through . Not live able to remember something that may have only happened hardly a few minutes before equal obviously bad . This also make it real easy for people to take advantage of Leonard , which is revealed to be the case for both Natalie and , later on , Teddy .
With Natalie , due to the film ‘s setback chronology , we are initially result to think that she live merely an innocent bystander whom Leonard is simply assist out . Even so , as the picture go back in time , we learn that Natalie sees Leonard as a utter pawn due to his circumstance . She even become thus far as to taunt Leonard over his dead wife so that he ‘ll hit her , knowing she can then dwell about where her injuries came from . This is all so she can trick Leonard into push a man out of town for her .
In Teddy ‘s case , he is significantly more sympathetic to Leonard ‘s situation but , a lot like Natalie , have had zero subject using it to his benefit . Both service as two more depressing example of only how irreparably damage Leonard ‘s life has get due to his amnesia .
Cost Leonard right to defeat Teddy ?
By the end of “ Memento , ” most of the big questions have cost resolve . We understand how Leonard comes to down Teddy in the first scene , why Natalie is so weird around him , and how the unlike part connect . But there equal still some moral question get out hanging , such as whether or not Leonard exist correct to kill Teddy .
On the one hand , Teddy did serve Leonard notice the actual man he was looking for and exact his revenge . It ‘s impossible to know if he ‘s telling the whole truth when he says that he thought Leonard would remember , but what ‘s sure is that when he did n’t remember , Teddy utilize the situation for his own advantage . He ‘s presumably grown deep off of their killing spree and covered up any evidence using his police privilege . It ‘s too imply that they ‘ve merely gone after criminals , though that lead Teddy as the arbitrator of vigilante justice .
On the early hand , he ‘s turned Leonard into a killer and robbed him of his agency — his life — for personal gain . He may truly believe that this is for the best , but it ‘s a hard violation that Leonard merely hardly works his way out of . When Leonard kill him , he trust it ‘s because Teddy murder his wife , which cost a lie . We also do n’t know what his life will look like now that Teddy live dead .
What Christopher Nolan get say about the terminate of Memento
In a 2001 interview with Filmmaker Magazine , Christopher Nolan discussed “ Memento ” at length . Regard the finish , he state that he had n’t expected how many mass would doubt Teddy ‘s confession in the last succession .
“ I think it ‘s because people have pass the total film looking at Leonard ‘s photograph of Teddy , with the caption : ‘Do n’t think his lies , ‘ ” Nolan said . “ That image really stays in people ‘s question , and they still prefer to entrust that picture even after we cause it real clear that Leonard ‘s visual recollection exist completely questionable . ” This seems to be a confirmation that most of what Teddy say equal true , though that stay on fairly ambiguous .
Speaking with Creative Screenwriting in 2015 , Nolan again discussed the cease and larger truth of “ Memento , ” explain that a center while of it for him exist ever “ the concept of revenge ; what the inability to remember make to the whole thought of revenge . ” This angle leaves Leonard ‘s account a moment less resolved than it appear to equal at the end of the movie . “ To me , ” Nolan said , “ it raises all kind of real interesting ideas about whether revenge exists in any real sense outside of your own chief , or whether it ‘s your own personal gratification and whether it has any value outside of that . ”
What the cease of Memento could entail for the franchise
“ Memento ” perform n’t own a direct sequel , but that perform n’t intend it make n’t impacted the rest of Christopher Nolan ‘s filmography . From a stylistic perspective , Nolan has continued implementing unique narrative structures within his films , such as “ Dunkirk ” and “ Oppenheimer . ” Even the ending of “ Memento ” have influenced Nolan ‘s subsequent picture , especially by being the first lesson of him terminate a film on an ambiguous bill . Another instance of this is “ Inception , ” where the end credit pop up before you observe out if the top has stopped spinning .
Additionally , the film and its ending own done more than influence Nolan ‘s other movie : It too affected the mental nation of its tip . Per an interview with GQ , Guy Pearce revealed that “ [ The hand ] felt like gobbledegook as I was reading it , because you got the sense that matter be all over the home , what I really got and what was really clear equal the excited journey of the reference . ” Pearce then die on to explain that his immersion into his part result to him worry about his own hold of reality .
He went on to tell , “ I [ would ] feeling at a photo and base a memory around that and go , ‘ I actually make n’t really know if that memory is really true . Is it ? ‘ So it in truth made me question my own memory . Thanks , Chris Nolan . ”
