Memento Q.

[Rii]

I recently had the opportunity to see this film and thoroughly enjoyed it, however there's one scene that I didn't quite follow and would appreciate some input on from folks cleverer than I.

Dude hires a prostitute, gets her to place mementos of his wife around the room: a book, clock, etc. He instructs her to lie with him and wait for him to fall asleep, then to go to the bathroom and slam the door so as to wake him up, reminiscent of how he awoke during the assault on his wife. In an earlier (later) scene we see him burning these mementos.

What's going on here? I gather it has something to do with his fabricated memory of events wherein his wife died during the assault, but I'm not clear how the events in that scene contribute to that.

 

[McCoy]

I think it was about trying to recreate events so that he can finally arrive at the answer to his questions. He needs to start every day the same so that he will make the same decisions and arrive at the same conclusions. With each day he leaves more clues for himself so that he can get a little further along before the day ends and he has to start over the next morning.

If he starts the day off differently, he may not have the same attitude and make the same decisions, which would take him off course and further away from solving the mystery.

 

[JonathonWally]

I think it was about trying to recreate events so that he can finally arrive at the answer to his questions. He needs to start every day the same so that he will make the same decisions and arrive at the same conclusions. With each day he leaves more clues for himself so that he can get a little further along before the day ends and he has to start over the next morning.

If he starts the day off differently, he may not have the same attitude and make the same decisions, which would take him off course and further away from solving the mystery.

It could also be part of the way he was manipulating himself. I don't remember but was it revealed by that part of the movie that he lying to himself?

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Yeah, as far as I can remember he finds a dude and convinces himself that the person is John G., or whatever his name was. Then he maps out the city, plants clues for himself to find then kills whoever it is. The way I understood it he's been doing this for a while in killing multiple John Gs just to give him something to do.

 

[Yassim]

I thought he just wanted to believe, for a moment, that his wife was still alive. He wants to relive his old life for a moment, and he knows he can fool himself.

When he burns the stuff, he's realized that it's too painful to try and relive that time - it only brings back the realization that his wife is dead, and his life is ruined. He's determined never to let himself do it again.

 

[Luckyflux]

John G the cop was manipulating him(Leonard) all along. If you believe what he (John G) said about finding him soon after the break-in. He had the polaroid of Leonard killing that guy who is supposed to be the one goon left over from the attack.

Wow, been along time since I have seen it so my memory is alittle fuzzy, plus the movie is not clear in the first place. It all depends on who you think is telling the truth.


I am still ensure whether Leonard was "Sammy Jenkis"? If Leonard was Sammy then ...his wife was diabetic, but she didn't die in the attack that left Lenny with his condition. Nine months after the attack she couldn't take his condition anymore, and set the plan in motion that lead to her death at his hands due to the overdose. This is when John G the cop is called in to investigate the "murder". John G realizes what is going on with Leonard and he begins to "help" him to find this myterious person John G? I don't know why they have the same name/last initial but that eventually leads Lenny to kill Jogn G at the end.

With the so called "help" of John G, he has Lenny do all kinds of nasty stuff that makes John G so profit. Which is why John G keeps stringing Lenny along, the loss of memory problem is too awesome for John G to manipulate. It is during this time that John G leads Leonard to the real killer which Lenny dispatches, and the photo is taken.

What is the deal with the photo anyway? It shows Lenny having one less tattoo? So Lenny must have done the deed and got it tattooed on his body. He just forgets about ever having the tattoo or it's meaning. That is what the polaroid explains if you believe John G.

At the end Lenny is completely frustrated and through a series of misinformation and half-meant clues he fabricates a story that the cop John G is the real John G. So he kills him.

We never know if Lenny is Sammy, nor do we know if the attack killed his wife or if she survived. We don't much about the stories John G tells us (and Leonard), is he lying or telling the truth.

The parts with the bartender girl and Dodd are just current events happening in Leonards life, they have no relevence to his overall storyline. We know that John G and the bartenders boyfriend Jimmy we in cohoots, (and that Jimmy worked for Dodd). but we never find out what they were planning.

At least I think that is what is going on, although I could be wrong. I am still unsure about everything, so please feel free to comment and correct. This is a great movie!

 

[Harvey]

Well, the blink and you'll miss it shot of Lenny appearing in the hospital where Sammy had just been suggests that they were one in the same. But as far as who is telling the truth in that case, you're right, it's hard to say. A lot of deception in that film, probably more than can be found on the surface.

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

I thought he just wanted to believe, for a moment, that his wife was still alive. He wants to relive his old life for a moment, and he knows he can fool himself.

When he burns the stuff, he's realized that it's too painful to try and relive that time - it only brings back the realization that his wife is dead, and his life is ruined. He's determined never to let himself do it again.

That's how I interpreted it also. It was a way for him to trick himself in to thinking that his wive was still alive.