Bring on the tough stuff. There’s not just one right answer.
- Okay, let's get this one out of the way. What do you think actually happened? Did Leonard's wife survive the assault and die from hypoglycemic shock when she tried to shake Leonard out of his anterograde amnesia? Is Teddy a big fat liar? What other crazy alternatives can you come up with?
- What's up with Natalie? Does she really have a change of heart as she gets a better understanding of Leonard's condition and his past? Is she just trying to use him? Could she possibly know that John Gamel is Teddy?
- How is violence as a means toward justice reflected by the movie? Is it portrayed as a necessary means toward achieving a just end? Does it only perpetuate itself in a fruitless cycle? Do you think Leonard (or anyone for that matter) is violent by nature?
- Teddy tells Leonard that the men who broke into his house that night were "a couple of junkies," but the masked men in Leonard's memory look a bit more professional that. Is this just another memory discrepancy that Nolan is throwing at us, or is this another Teddy lie?
- How does Memento make you think about how we construct our own identities? Have you ever lied to yourself to be happy?
- What would it be like to see the movie in chronological order? Is the narrative structure so integral to the film that it would be a completely different movie? Or would it just make a whole lot more sense?
- If you could give Leonard one tattoo that would help solve all his problems, what would it be? What if you had to take away one tattoo? (See our Tattoo section in Symbols, Imagery, Allegory for all his tats.)