Confronting Loss in Memento

Confronting Loss in Memento

In Christopher Nolan's Memento (2000) the main character, Leonard (Guy Pearce) deals with the loss of his wife, his memory, and his perception of time after witnessing his wife's murder. Nolan successfully shows Leonard's loss of memory and time throughout the film with his comprehensive style of composition. Nolan displays Leonard dealing with these losses in one sequence where Leonard makes a small fire in order to burn some of his wife's possessions. In this sequence Nolan uses many techniques in order to sum up the battle the protagonist faces throughout the film

The establishing shot reveals Leonard driving down a dark and luminous path in an isolated area resembling Leonard's own dark and isolated life. As he steps out of his car the camera follows as he makes his way over to a pile of wood. Nolan cuts to a close up of Leonard dropping the bag that is in his hand. He cuts to another close up of Leonard's hand picking up wood for a moment creating some suspense as to what might be in the bag. Next Nolan cuts to a medium shot of Leonard holding the contents while seated behind a fire generating bright red illumination and rising smoke. The light glowing on Leonard's face contrasting with the black background serves to show the strong emotions stirring up inside him while the smoke creates a mystical dreamlike feeling for the sequence. Nolan then cuts to the fire itself containing burning mementos of Leonard's wife. The time Nolan spends displaying the contents shows the significance these mementos hold. The close ups of the burning items reveals Leonard's pain in dealing with his loss.

Nolan quickly cuts back and forth from this fire scene to another scene in which Leonard's wife is using the mementos that are being burned. This technique along with a wild sound of a clock ticking distinguishes the flashbacks and the memories that Leonard is feeling as he sits by the fire. The ticking of the clock in the flashback sequence seems to show how time has come to haunt Leonard. And Nolan shows his loss of the perception of time by cutting back to Leonard holding a clock but without the ticking in the background. Nolan closes in on Leonard's hands throwing the timepiece in the fire and then cuts back out and Nolan employs a voice over to convey Leonard's thoughts.

Nolan slowly closes