When Christopher Nolan released
Amnesia
In the year 2001, he was not yet the great filmmaker who was destined to become, but the reality is that it was with that film that he began to show that he was a different director, with an immeasurable talent and great passion for detail. At the time, the Oscar winner for Best Picture and Best Director for
Oppenheimer
only had directed his debut work,
Following
, but Memento marked a turning point: the film was nominated for two Academy Awards – Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing – and Nolan managed to get Hollywood’s eyes on him.
Starring
Guy Pearce
,
Carrie-Anne Moss
e
Joe Pantoliano
, the movie was a psychological thriller based on a story written by his brother
Jonathan Nolan
– although it was not published until later – and the truth is that it is one of those movies that, after the initial confusion of the first viewing, makes you want to watch it again.
The second viewing of Memento, once you realize that Nolan is not telling the story in chronological order, completely enhances the experience, taking it to another level, freeing the viewer from the task of deciphering what they are seeing and thus allowing them to enjoy the dozens of clues and details the director has been leaving throughout the film.
In the movie, a traumatic experience caused Leonard Shelby (Pearce), a former insurance agent, to lose his short-term memory after witnessing the rape and subsequent murder of his wife Catherine (Jorja Fox). Although he can remember events that happened before, Leonard forgets everything that occurred within a maximum of 15 minutes. Therefore, to organize his daily life, he helps himself by taking Polaroid photos and making various notes. At the same time, his only purpose is to avenge his wife’s death, so he tries to reconstruct what happened with the help of a suspicious man named Teddy (Pantoliano) and a waitress named Natalie (Moss).
In addition to the use of both black and white and color images, the main particularity of Memento is its timeline. A nonlinear structure that tells the story through memories and constant time jumps, making it difficult for the viewer to know how, what, and especially when the events they are seeing on the screen occurred. Therefore, once the mystery is solved, it’s easier to appreciate Memento in all its glory if we dedicate a second viewing, although the downside is that the surprise effect is lost.
With 94% on the Rotten Tomatoes review portal, there’s no doubt that “Amnesia” is one of the filmmaker’s most highly rated films, which to this day continues to answer questions about what is undoubtedly one of his most confusing movies.
It’s like we’re trying to put you on his head [of Leonard], and that’s why the story is told backwards, because it denies the information he denies
, Nolan reflected on the film 10 years ago in an interview with IndieWire.
In fact, I wrote the story from the first page. I didn’t think much about these structural aspects since I had the first draft. […] For me, it’s really about finding the most appropriate order to present the information to the audience and not feel any responsibility to do it chronologically, as we don’t in real life.
.
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