I need an explaination about the ending of the recent movie ‘Memento’ where you view the entire story backwards through the eyes of a man who has lost his short term memory. After watching it for the second time I understand how the lead character lies to himself and may even have killed his wife after he and she survive the attack in the bathroom, but the one image in the movie that doesn’t fit is the image toward the end of the movie where he has a brief vision/memory of he and his wife sitting on the bed and he already has his body tattoos which he supposedly had put on after her death! Anyone who has seen this movie and can explain how the movie can show him tatooed with her still alive and make the movie make sense PLEASE let me know, my friends and I CAN’T figure this scene into any ending. Thanx,
Pretty cool movie, wasn’t it?
I think the scene you’re referring to may have been a product of the guy’s imagination. It seems unfair for a writer to do this, but as we’re dealing so much with flashback and such, I noticed a number of times that Guy Pearce’s memories changed when he found new information.
Does anybody remember Guy Pearce beign in Neighbours as nice guy Mike?
I only saw it once, but IIRC, didn’t he start hunting for her killer while she was still alive? I thought one story that he was being fed was that she just left him after they were attacked (and he lost his memory-processing abilities)–that she survived the attack, but then left him, and he somehow concocted the story that she had been murdered in the attack.
Personally, I don’t think it’s worth it to “figure it out.” I doubt that there’s a definitive history in the movie that’s “true.” I like the confusion.
Here is a thread on the subject with over a hundred replies. If the answer isn’t in there somewhere, it probably doesn’t exist.
His memories sometimes change, like when he writes “don’t believe his lies” on his police friends picture. But he does this on purpose because he uses his own forgetfulness to avoid ‘unpleasant’ memories like the explaination the cop gives him about his life. He does the same thing when he steals the Jag leaves his truck and then ‘invents’ the story that he is independantly wealthy from the insurance settlement, but the reasons for these ‘changes’ are exposed at the end of the movie, the scene/memory of him tatooed with “find my wife’s murderer and kill him” with him sitting next to his wife defies a reason for that memory unless someone out there can think of one (ex. his head injury made him think his wife was dead even tho she was really alive)Thanx for any input!
That scene was just a fantasy where he dreamed of being with his wife again.
In that scene, IIRC, he has the extra tatoo, something like “I did it!” Thus, possibly the flashback is a fantasy – one might have expected him to be in bed with the bartender lady, and perhaps he was, fantasizing that she was his dead wife. That seems the most consistent to me.
However, there are other possibilities. Could be the whole thing was as the cop said, that they were using him to kill off scum, that his wife hadn’t died, but he didn’t remember that.
Our pal Cervaise has a very interesting point of view about the film, which can be found in his review at Movie Geek Central and also on his discussion board.
I think he hit the nail on the head–the film is about subjectivity and the fallability of memory. So don’t be suprised if you change your opinion of what happened from viewing to viewing.
Here is my take on Memento.
Yes his wife is really dead and he is searching for her killer. I don’t know if he has found her killer or not but I know he will always search for him.
Why?
It’s his curse. He denied the claim the man with the memory condition and as a result kill his wife so now this fate is visited on him with the added curse of trying to do a task that he can never finish.
(ala Sysaphus (sp) or The Piano Movers)