Memento

Visible crew/equipment: Teddy, Leonard and Jimmy leave Jimmy's motel room and Leonard tells Teddy, "Take your own car." In the next shot as Teddy reaches for his door, a crew member, plus another one under his arm/elbow, are very clearly visible in the door mirror. Then as Teddy closes the door a crew member's face is seen on the left, in that mirror. (00:44:00)

Super Grover

Visible crew/equipment: As Leonard stands in the bathroom looking at Dodd, unconscious on the floor after the two fought, visible in the reflection of the mirror behind him is a dark haired crew member with a blue shirt. It's in the same shot as the housekeeping woman that knocks. (00:47:15)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: There are scenes in which Leonard is looking at the back of Teddy's polaroid. If you look at the serial number of the polaroid when he is writing "Don't believe his lies" it is a different number than when he looks at it during the beginning of the film. (00:05:15 - 00:07:00)

More mistakes in Memento

Leonard Shelby: I have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if I can't remember them. I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world's still there. Do I believe the world's still there? Is it still out there?. Yeah. We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I'm no different.

More quotes from Memento
Memento trivia picture

Trivia: In the scene where Lenny is on the phone describing how Sammy Jenkis ends up in a home due to the death of his wife, it shows Sammy sitting in a chair looking towards the camera. Sammy is temporarily blocked from our view by someone walking in front of him. As the person passes by, it is not Sammy that re-appears, but Lenny. To see it well, you will have to use the frame-by-frame mode. There are about 5 visible frames of Lenny in the home, and then it cuts back to him inside the motel room talking on the phone again. (01:29:55)

More trivia for Memento

Question: I still don't understand why Leonard switches clothes with Jimmy and steals his car after he kills him. "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." That makes absolutely no sense. Driving around in Jimmy's car and wearing his suit would make him the prime suspect in the investigation. He was much safer when he was just an anonymous guy driving around in a pickup truck.

Answer: It is never explicitly given. The most Leonard says on the subject is: "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." Speculations include (you can make up your own motives as well) : (1) The clothes and car are so much nicer than his. If you are willing to kill someone: stealing is not really a "crime." Why not take the nicer objects? (2) It could be part of his "routine": Kill a man, take his clothes and car. The clothes he had on and the truck may be from the man he killed a year ago. (3) It could be that he wants to make the killer of his wife suffer even more, and takes his clothes as a way of humiliating him. Leonard takes the man's life-his clothes and car, which are wrapped up in his identity-just as the man took his. This idea seems to work with a theme in Memento about "Identity" (especially mistaken identity). Natalie thinks Leonard is Jimmy, then thinks he is Teddy, then learns he is Leonard. Teddy is "mistaken" for the second killer, Jimmy is "mistaken" for the 2nd killer. Sammy's story as a part of Leonard's story, etc. (4) It could "simply" be explained as a "plot device": Leonard has to do it, otherwise he won't find the note in "his pocket" and meet Natalie. (5) Leonard doesn't want to admit he's a murderer. He's lying to himself. If he's the victim, then he cannot be the murderer. (6) Leonard takes Jimmy's clothing as part of his routine of killing J.G.'s he becomes another person, he's the victim not the killer, thus "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." and that's why he also takes his car, so he has to, once again, find his wife's killer and kill him.

Answer: Leonard's only goal in life was to find his wife's killer, and he thought he had just achieved that. With nothing more to live for, the clothes would attract the attention of Jimmy's associates - a method of suicide as indirect as his eventual approach to killing Teddy.

More questions & answers from Memento

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.