CINE 245: David Shukhin Blog Post #2 - Memento

Feb 9, 2024

Film name: Memento

Release Date and Studio: 2000, Summit Entertainment Team Todd

Director: Christopher Nolan

Main Cast: Guy Pierce (Leonard Shelby), Carrie-Anne Moss (Natalie), Joe Pantoliano (Teddy Gammel), Jorja Fox (Leonard’s wife)

Plot Summary: Christopher Nolan's Memento is a neo-noir that focuses on Leonard Shelby and his quest to avenge his wife's death. Leonard is unable to create new memories and so lives fully by relying on handwritten notes, tattoos and polaroids to continue his quest. His story is slowly revealed through a backwards narrative that causes his lies to crumble and has us questioning the reality of each one of his memories.

Prompt: In approximately 350-400 words, analyze the narrative and its relation to the ‘meaning’ of the film by comparing a scene or sequence of scenes to the larger whole - how does Nolan experiment with the relationship between the fabula and syuzhet? To what greater purpose? You may wish to focus on a single character or a singular event when comparing the part to the whole. Consider as well cinematography and editing in this analysis - what we are looking at and how the shots are composed matters (and don't forget those acronyms)! It could be useful to consider the genre of the film noir too. You may also cite the article(s) used in class - academic writing is the act of joining a larger conversation which often means building on or even challenging prior scholarship.

In his experimental neo-noir, Memento, Christopher Nolan uses the fragmented narrative surrounding Sammy Jankis not just as a plot device but as an exploration of memory's subjectivity and the elusive nature of our identity. As Sammy’s story evolves the main message of the film becomes more and more clear; our sense of self is just a collection of memories, none of which have any tangible objective reality of their own.

As we’re watching the film Nolan chooses to play out these scenes in fragments to better serve the syuzhet so we can experience things from Leonard’s perspective. At the same time we assume that if we were to look at the movie chronologically then Sammy’s story would be somewhere at the beginning of this fabula(chronological sequence of events). Although we know our narrator is unreliable the final reveal still shocks us as an audience because the fabula we’ve created(and assume is objective) from the scraps of the fragmented Syuzhet shown from Leonard’s perspective turns out to be a lie. 

The cinematography plays a big role in convincing us that this narrative must be true. Firstly, it’s shot in black and white and this suggests that it occurred before Leonard’s accident, meaning we can trust his memories of it. The Sammy sequences also utilize much more stable camera work and are shot with wider angles than the color sequences, which are composed of tight handheld shots to emphasize the instability of Leonard’s memory. 

So what is Leonard’s tattoo of Sammy Jankis' name so significant? The tattoo signifies that any aspect of our self, whether it be a memory or something we consider a crucial part of our identity, is completely subjective. We tell ourselves many stories about who and why we are but at the end of the day these are just stories. We spend our whole lives crafting a syuzhet for ourselves that’s just as unreliable as Leonard’s account of Sammy Jankis. 

If an event in our lives disrupts this syuzhet we are left with the same feeling of loss as we are when Nolan reveals Sammy’s story is actually Leonards. It’s like we’ve woken up from Leonard’s dream. We no longer believe the story he tells himself, as it’s revealed to be a lie. By shattering Leonard’s story Nolan asks us to question our own story and contemplate whether we truly are who we think we are.