ABSTRACT
It is no mean feat just to reconstruct the chronology of the film’s present; it is difficult to keep clear in one’s mind even such unambiguous facts as which events occur before or after which other events. The most obvious reason for this difficulty is that the color scenes are presented in reverse chronological order, but the parallels between certain events (for example, Leonard’s killings of Jimmy and Teddy), and the subtle transition in the final scene from the straightforward chronology of the black and white scenes to the reverse chronology of the color scenes,
add to the viewer’s confusion. In my experience, first-time viewers seriously overestimate even the time covered in the film’s present (about 48 hours).2 Then there are the more complicated implications of what happens on screen. To what extent are Natalie and Teddy using Leonard for their own ends, and to what extent are they genuinely interested in helping him? The question about Memento’s plot that exercises viewers most, however, is what really happened to Leonard and his wife, Catherine, during and after “the incident” when they were attacked in their home.
