Memento: Who’s John Gammell?

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Produced by Suzanne Todd and Jennifer Todd

Screenplay by Christopher Nolan

Based on “Memento More” by Jonathan Nolan

Starring Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Stephen Tobolowsky, Larry Holden and Callum Keith Rennie

Note: Major spoiler alert.

Courtesy of Lionsgate

In Memento, Leonard (Pearce) is not just an insurance investigator but also a serial killer. Leonard’s anterograde amnesia makes him self-denial and innocent. He takes pictures and writes captions about any vital thing, which he didn’t take photos of every murder he committed. The film’s non-linear structure and the use of Leonard as an unreliable narrator question how honest Leonard is and if the audience can consider Leonard a victim or a perpetrator. Leonard, in the end, is the perpetrator as he kills another “John G” to prevent the truth from coming out.

In the second to last scene in the film, where Teddy/John Gammell (Pantoliano) tells Leonard that Leonard killed his wife and Sammy (Tobolowsky) is either fake or a con man, Leonard is threatened by Teddy/John about the possible truth. To stay in his reality, Leonard copies down Teddy’s license plate and relies on a close-up of a caption of Teddy’s picture: “Don’t believe his lies.” Teddy’s photo manages to manipulate Leonard, making himself innocent, and uses that manipulation to relate to other people, like “Sammy Jenkins.” This event marks a turning point for Leonard in the film’s climax in a fabula order and the end in a sujet order as Leonard has fully developed and has become the perpetrator and is not the victim anymore.

Leonard has been living alone for a few years. According to his memory, his wife has been raped and murdered by John G. Leonard always has a severe look on his face and never smiles, saying that he has always had a job to do and doesn’t remember what happiness means. Teddy/John told Leonard that it’s okay to lie to yourself to be happy. Leonard was delighted whenever he killed the John Gs and he made up Sammy Jenkins because Leonard doesn’t want to consider himself a villain. Leonard can have moral feelings because he doesn’t kill as a hitman; he kills to avenge his wife and if he feels threatened. Leonard can also be emotional as he is defensive about his wife and Sammy Jenkins, the only friendly people that calms Leonard down and the only ones that make him happy. The audience only sees Leonard smile in a close-up at the end of the film after Teddy told Leonard he killed the first of a few John Gs a long time ago. The picture is Leonard’s only picture to have dirt on the edges, making it the one where Leonard abandons and forgets the most and that Teddy/John took the picture.

Once a close-up of the picture of Jimmy Grantz’s (Holden) dead body transitions from black and white to color, the frame also changes from black and white to color as this represents the end of one storyline and the start of another. It also marks a new turning point for Leonard as he assumes a new identity when wearing Jimmy’s clothes. Leonard once again feels threatened by Jimmy when Jimmy mentions Sammy Jenkins. This makes Leonard feel uncomfortable because the only people he told about Sammy are those he took pictures like Natalie (Moss) and Teddy/John. Leonard has never mentioned Sammy to Jimmy.

Teddy/John seems to control Leonard throughout the film. Teddy/John tries to tell Leonard that Natalie is evil, and he has been calling Leonard in the black and white storyline, which Leonard fell into his trap. Teddy is a cop who might be corrupted, but he tries to do the right thing with Leonard, and Teddy lets Leonard do whatever he wants to do because Leonard will not remember his murders, and Teddy will have a record of the murders. When Teddy/John bumps into Jimmy’s car (Leonard uses that), the windshield protects Leonard from Teddy/John as Teddy/John gets on Leonard’s nerves. The windshield is used as a shield when Leonard is about to get Teddy/John’s license registration from Natalie. It then cuts to a medium close-up where Teddy/John blocks all but the left edge of the frame as Leonard is on the left edge. This represents that Leonard is trapped between Teddy/John’s body and he can’t get away from Teddy/John. 

Manipulation is a theme in the film. The film’s use of manipulation is used as a way for the characters to control a situation/person, and it’s effortless for Leonard to be manipulated because he will only rely on a photo and its caption. For example, in the scene where Natalie comes home after Jimmy’s murder, she is angry that the drug deal failed, and she puts all the pens out of sight, knowing that Leonard will write his captions. Leonard is depicted at a slightly high angle as he wonders what Natalie will do about the drug deal, becoming Natalie’s new target. The camera pans and tilts a lot in this scene, making Leonard afraid of Natalie. When Natalie insults Leonard about his mental condition and his wife, she tells Leonard that she will use him and he can’t do anything about it. Natalie then gets on to Leonard’s nerves, and Leonard punches her to the ground. Leonard ends up losing the fight with Natalie because he couldn’t concentrate and write on what he has to know about her in a room with no pens, and Natalie manipulates Leonard into helping her “out of pity,” convincing him to kill Dodd (Rennie).

Leonard’s anterograde amnesia plays a role in the film’s narration. It makes the narration restricted because the audience learns the information with Leonard simultaneously. Leonard’s and Teddy’s backstory are unreliable because they don’t have factual evidence on what they do, and they make the audience consider who is the real antagonist. Memento is shown in a first-person narrative as the audience is in Leonard’s mindset, and every scene has Leonard physically and through his voiceovers. Leonard’s anterograde amnesia makes him not affect anything he has done, and he has no resolution to his goals after his memory loss. 

Leonard is destined to be a killer. Before his memory loss, he was self-denial because he didn’t want to think that his wife had diabetes. Leonard wanted to get out of reality, and he had no choice but to face it and accept it. Then in a close-up, Leonard burns his happy and Jimmy Grantz’s body photos and leaves his car because he doesn’t want to be satisfied and doesn’t want to remember his life and happiness. Leonard has come to accept that he is a killer. With the non-diegetic music, he is on a destiny to get away from the past. One of the last things that Leonard said to Teddy in the sujet order is that “I would rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer.” This remark implies that Leonard has been dead to himself, and he is born again when he wears Jimmy’s clothes and leaves in Jimmy’s car with a lot of money, which gives Leonard a new lifestyle and leaves his fingerprints & DNA trace at the place of the crime scene. No matter what Leonard does, he won’t remember it, and he wants it to stay that way forever.