As fans wait with bated breath for the release of Oppenheimer in 2023, the spotlight once again is back on Christopher Nolan and discussion around its titular character, played by Cillian Murphy. Fans of Nolan's later work outside of Batman will know of his trademark non-linear storytelling as a director, and this could not be more true for the Guy Pearce-led classic, Memento.
Anyone who's watched the film knows its philosophically driven murder-mystery narrative, questioning how memories can be reconstructed for self-comforting facades. Its dialogue presents the movie's thesis without subtlety, allowing it to be easy to follow amidst its backward order, and leading to many memorable quotes that question the human condition, lead to nail-bitting moments, or are surprisingly funny.
"I have to believe in a world outside my own mind."
Leonard while driving to the tattoo parlor.
This is the start of the movie's ending monologue by Pearce's character Leonard, who summarizes the point of his character. Leonard's life is in shambles; if Teddy is to be believed, he killed his wife when he overdosed her with insulin and killed many 'John Gs' as a form of escapism from his condition.
In the monologue, Leonard comes to terms with his dark secret of falsifying a murder mystery, and that he's invented a world where he must find his wife's killer. The world he wants to believe is still moving is his creation, closing his eyes to the truth and believing in his interpretation of it. This great line and moment continue off of an earlier quote to Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss) to justify avenging his wife, telling her that actions aren't meaningless without memories, and rhetorically asks, "The world doesn't just disappear when you close your eyes, doesn't it?"
"Memory can change the shape of a room."
Leonard Explaining Investigation To Teddy.
A quote in conjunction with his final monologue, this one is said to Teddy in the film's first act. This is part of Leonard's explanation of how people have the ability to distort their own memories subconsciously, and initially, it presents his prowess as an investigator.
On rewatch, the meaning of this Nolan quote changes: now it's about how he chooses to interpret events differently to protect himself from the truth and evade existential questions about his own life, creating a double meaning to this great quote.
"Oh, I'm Chasing This Guy. No. He's Chasing Me."
Leonard Losing His Memory While Being Chased.
The movie's funnier moments are rare between the tense action and mystery sequences, but they're funny exactly because of that. Seeing Leonard learn on the fly is a brilliant bit of blindsiding humor with Pearce's monotone delivery, but also captures the element that makes the film's structure work: the audience's state of confusion as they piece together the story's events as Leonard does — and some don't like Nolan's movies for how they do just this.
Memento is incredibly effective at slipping in jokes before cutting back to the importance of the scene, and without losing its gripping atmosphere. This quote, in particular, is just a joy for being a little nugget of hilarity that could only work in this unique premise.
"I Can Say Whatever The F*** I Want, And You Won't Remember."
Natalie Revealing Her True Colors.
Carrie-Anne Moss said in a 2019 interview that this was her best work, and it's easy to see why. Although she's not the centerpiece of the film, Natalie is the best woman in any of Nolan's work, especially (but unfortunately) because many women are dead wives in Nolan's movies.
Moss presents a range of emotions, delivering her script with anger, pity, quiet contempt, and then fake distress. "We'll still be best friends, or maybe even lovers" hits hard when the audience knows they do sleep together in the future, and finally watch the tragedy of his manipulation unfold. It's some of the best acting in the movie, and the most memorable moment of the film because of the insidious script.
"Remember Sammy Jankis."
Leonard's Method Of Remembering His Condition.
The subplot of the movie ambiguously refers to Leonard's condition and is the main storyline of the black and white chronological scenes.
The quote is so memorable for being repeated at length, getting across how Leonard has conditioned himself to make new memories and subconsciously misconstrue Sammy's life to be his — even Teddy gets vocally sick of it. It's both his way of understanding his condition and verifying who he can trust, even if it works against him when it comes to killing James F. Grantz (Larry Holden) who learns Sammy's story via the phone.
"You Lie To Yourself To Be Happy. There's Nothing Wrong With That."
Teddy While Being Confronted By Leonard.
The genius of Teddy's character is that, even by the end of the film, it's not clear whether he's exposing the truth and sympathizing with Leonard when he is saying this, or continuing to be a pathological liar.
Pantoliano's performance throughout the movie is key to the character's success, and it's no different in this final reveal of Leonard's grief-stricken past. His cheery condescension makes this important speech memorable and blur the lines of whether it's true or another one of his lies to throw Leonard off track. This may make things confusing in the movie, but that's part of the fun.
"What's the last thing that you do remember?"/"My wife..."/ "That's sweet."/ "...Dying."
Leonard Explaining His Condition At The Bar.
This darkly comedic and simultaneously sad line is the first proper introduction between Leonard and Natalie.
It's the funniest exchange in the movie that was even used in the film's trailer, and again benefits from Pearce's dry delivery before it cuts right back to the somber tone of the scene. Moss was also great in this scene, subtly interrogating Leonard, speaking with possibly performative sympathy to find out about her boyfriend and abusing his condition so that he drinks a jar of spit.
"Why Are You Asking Me? I Can't Remember What I've Done."
Leonard Answering The Phone After Seeing His Bloody Picture.
Pearce plays almost every scene composed but finally breaks in this one, his character confused by his own bloody image. As someone who wants to appear in control of his life, Leonard feigns confidence and, in several scenes, pretends to know people.
Just like he described with Sammy, he looks at people with fake familiarity in his eyes to get a pat on the head, but he doesn't understand what's going on. This is elaborated further when in another scene he says, "You wanna know the truth about my condition, officer? You don't know anything. You feel angry, you don't know why. You feel guilty, you don't know why." Leonard is aimless, and this quote shows him at his most vulnerable.
"I Take It I've Told You About My Condition."
Leonard, Usually To Teddy.
The line Leonard repeats to Teddy, to which he always replies, "Only every time I see ya!" Leonard doesn't say the exact phrase to everyone, but often similarly repeats it, realizing his looping dialogue too late into conversations.
It's a cute, natural touch to the character. If there's a reason the quotes in Memento are memorable it's because they're often repeated, just as Leonard has been repeating the process of killing John G.
"Don't Believe His Lies."
The Lie That Leads To The Final John G.
Written behind the picture of Teddy, and made to lie to his future self in order to get revenge and false closure. Of all the lines from the movie, this one is easily the most memorable, even having reached meme status.
This line proves to be Teddy's undoing, as attempts to manipulate him after the death of Jimmy Grantz fail after one look at his note, and it ultimately kills Teddy. It's even better on rewatch, as the smug Leonard decides to not believe some of Teddy's genuine truths all because he doesn't recognize his own lie.