Memento’s ending is probably one of the most controversial endings in all of film history. The thing is, this ending was designed to be confusing, and it serves a very specific purpose within the context of the film that makes it less confusing than it appears.
“Memento” is a movie with a fractured timeline. It’s a puzzle box of a film, one that can be watched and re-watched to find new clues each time. (If you’ve never seen it, the trailer above will give you an idea of the setup.)
The ending of “Memento,” however, is not its most interesting aspect. Instead, it’s what happens before the movie’s final scene that really gets under your skin — and if you haven’t seen the movie in a while, it might be worth your time to revisit it this weekend.
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Meaning
We learn in the movie’s opening sequence that Leonard is suffering from anterograde amnesia, which means he can’t form new memories. This means he forgets everything that happens to him after a short time.
The movie unfolds in two different timelines: one in color and the other in black-and-white. The color timeline takes place in the present and the black-and-white timeline takes place in Leonard’s past.
In the color timeline, we see Leonard — played by Guy Pearce with his head shaved and a Polaroid camera hanging around his neck — questioning strangers about a man named Sammy Jankis (Stephen Tobolowsky). “I’m looking for someone,” Leonard says to these strangers. “Do you know anyone named Sammy Jankis?”
We learn later on that this is a reference to a man who suffered from anterograde amnesia, just like Leonard does. The difference between them is that Sammy has it all the time, while Leonard has it only part of the time.
At the film’s end, when Leonard kills Jimmy, the dying man whispers the name “Sammy” — a name he would only know if Leonard had told him. This causes an impatient Teddy to blow a fuse, and when he does, he might come closer than anyone else in the whole movie to actually telling Leonard the truth of his situation.
The final shot shows Leonard once again at his motel room, this time writing on Teddy’s Polaroid picture “I killed them all.” It is obvious that he still has no real memory of doing so and that he believes that Jimmy killed his wife.
The film’s ending is seen in reverse chronological order. Leonard (Guy Pearce) kills Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), then the audience sees Leonard kill Jimmy, the owner of the bar, who whispers “Sammy Jankis.” Leonard has killed him because he is unable to remember that he had done so already.
Details on the Plot
The unfortunate Sammy Jankis was a man with short term memory loss, who also happened to be Leonard’s wife’s former patient. As it turns out, Sammy woke up every day thinking it was the morning of his first date with his wife, and he couldn’t remember anything from before that.
He took her out on this date every morning, and when she said “I love you” at the end of the date, he would reply “I love you too” for the first time. Then at night he would go home to sleep, waking up every morning back at square one.
Leonard used Sammy as a metaphor for his own condition as a person suffering from anterograde amnesia — someone who can’t create new memories after brain injury. In other words, we could say that Sammy is Leonard’s future self.
In the closing moments of Christopher Nolan’s Memento, Leonard Shelby has just tracked down an address and gone inside. He finds a dying man, who utters a single word to him: “Sammy.” Leonard stares at him in confusion. The movie ends. The credits roll. We all go home scratching our heads and wondering what the hell Sammy means.
Explanation Theory
There are two theories about the meaning of “Sammy” in Memento, and we think it helps to look at them together to get a full sense of what the movie is trying to say.
Theory: 1
The film is presented as two different sequences of scenes interspersed during the film: a series in black-and-white that is shown chronologically, and a series of color sequences shown in reverse order (simulating for the protagonist his own memory impairment). The two sequences “meet” at the end of the film, producing one complete and cohesive narrative.
Theory: 2
The film’s structure is a puzzle that unfolds in reverse. Initially, Leonard seeks to find his wife’s killer by visiting people whose names are written on his body. He encounters a new person, kills them and then writes their name down for future reference.
But the deeper Leonard gets into his quest, the more he starts to realize that it might not be as simple as it first seemed. His wife’s murder may have been carried out by someone from his past, or even by himself.
At the film’s end, when Leonard kills Jimmy, the dying man whispers the name “Sammy” — a name he would only know if Leonard had told him. This causes an impatient Teddy to blow a fuse, and when he does, he might come closer than anyone else in the whole movie to actually telling Leonard the truth of his situation.
Things get even more intense and thrilling when the protagonist enters into the scene. At the film’s end, when Leonard kills Jimmy, the dying man whispers the name “Sammy” — a name he would only know if Leonard had told him.
At this point, it seems like both Teddy and Leonard are caught in a loop where they’re trying to stop each other from killing one another — and failing. This causes an impatient Teddy to blow a fuse, and when he does, he might come closer than anyone else in the whole movie to actually telling Leonard the truth of his situation.
Ending Explanation
Memento is a complex and layered film, but it’s also highly structured and meticulously told.
At the film’s end, when Leonard kills Jimmy, the dying man whispers the name “Sammy” — a name he would only know if Leonard had told him. This causes an impatient Teddy to blow a fuse, and when he does, he might come closer than anyone else in the whole movie to actually telling Leonard the truth of his situation.
“You don’t want to remember,” says Teddy. “What you really want is to forget.” That moment of frustration reveals that Teddy is not Leonard’s savior but his captor. He has been taking advantage of Leonard’s condition by promising him revenge in exchange for obedience.
The reason Teddy drops the act is that he’s convinced Leonard knows much more than he’s letting on. He’s convinced Leonard is faking his memory loss, and that he’s using it as a cover for his crimes. At the film’s end, when Leonard kills Jimmy, the dying man whispers the name “Sammy” — a name he would only know if Leonard had told him.
This causes an impatient Teddy to blow a fuse, and when he does, he might come closer than anyone else in the whole movie to actually telling Leonard the truth of his situation.
As for why Leonard killed Sammy Jankis… well, that’s not really answered in this film. Sammy is mentioned as someone who suffered from real memory problems, but even if we assume that Leonard did kill him, it was presumably out of mercy — not because Sammy was holding any secret knowledge that could help un-confuse Leonard’s mind.
Memento tells the story of Leonard Shelby, a man who cannot form new memories. He is obsessed with finding the man who raped and murdered his wife, but his condition makes this impossible. He relies on notes, Polaroids, and tattoos to track his progress, because he can’t remember from one day to the next what he has already done.
As the movie opens, we see Leonard in action — in reverse. He’s taking Polaroids of a dead body and taping a note on his hand. We don’t know why he’s doing this; it’s only as we rewind through time that we learn what happened at this crime scene. A few minutes later, we see Leonard meeting himself for the first time. He’s given himself a note saying “Don’t believe his lies.”
That’s it — that’s all you need to know going into Memento. From there out, you are in Leonard’s shoes. As you put together the pieces of what happened to him and his wife (and to everyone else in this film), you’ll sometimes be ahead of him and sometimes behind, but at no point is there a moment when you know more than he does about where he is or what has happened to him.
Wrap Up
Memento is one of the most complex, mind-bending and interesting movies ever made. It’s also a film that’s not easily understood on first viewing. So, if you need an explanation of the movie’s ending or want to learn more about the Memento ending explained, keep reading.
The Memento ending has been debated for years, with some even claiming that the movie is unsolvable. In this article, we will discuss everything you need to know about the Memento ending, explain what happened in Memento and give our interpretation of the film.
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