Memento

Memento is a film written and directed by Christopher Nolan based on his brother Jonathan's short story Memento Mori. It stars Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano. The film was released in 2000 to widespread critical acclaim and received a Golden Globe (best screenplay) and two Oscars (best screenplay, best editing) nominations.

The movie consists entirely of an intricately woven pattern of flashbacks. The black and white sequences progress chronologically forward. The color scenes are arranged in reverse order. Thus the opening (color) scene of the movie is actually the last thing that happens in the story. In order to make it more jarring and accentuate the notion that color scenes run backwards in time, this 'opening scene' is shown in reverse motion.

Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers

Leonard, played by actor Guy Pearce, is a man afflicted with a form of brain damage (severe anterograde amnesia, also called "anterograde memory dysfunction") after a struggle with a man who broke into Leonard's home and raped his wife in February 1997. Though his affliction keeps him from being able to form new memories, Leonard seeks revenge; to wreak this revenge he must keep notes on even his own life, tattooing himself with important clues and keeping photos of important people and objects in his life, including his car.

Lenny was a ruthless and clever insurance investigator whose first case involved a Sammy Jenkis, a victim of short-term memory. He determined to prove that the man was faking his memory loss and convinced the insurance company to cut off Sammy's insurance benefits.

In an act of retributive justice, Lenny becomes afflicted with the same condition and loses both his memory and his wife.

Two junkies break into the house of Lenny and his wife and rape her. They didn't realize that she didn't live alone, and one is shot by Lenny. The other knocks Lenny off-balance, and Lenny suffers a concussion.

The concussion gives him short-term memory loss. He can't keep anything in mind more than 15 minutes. But somehow he becomes aware of his condition and begins to exploit it.

He writes himself notes. He has a whole system of notes, including Polaroid photos in his pocket, an elaborate map on a motel wall, and tattoos all over his body.

Lenny's wife survives the attack, but is distressed over Lenny's memory loss. She can't bear the feeling of being overlooked; Lenny can't remember anything recent in their relationship. She determines a unique and potentially fatal way to deal with this.

She 'tests' whether he's faking the memory loss (just as Lenny did with Sammy), by repeatedly asking him to give her a shot of insulin for her diabetes. She tricks him by setting the clock back. Perhaps she figured if he really loved her he would 'snap out of it'. Or maybe she decided she didn't want to live if she couldn't have his love. Lenny gives her she insulin shot repeatedly, and she dies of an overdose.

Lenny, confronted with his wife's death at his own hands, refuses to believe it and enters a mental hospital. He grows to distrust the doctors, begins keeping a secret diary, and begins a project to "condition himself" (his words) to form new memories.

He chooses to 'remember' that the junkies who attacked his wife also murdered her. He makes it his life's ambition to track down "the man who murdered my wife" and get his revenge. Ironically, he himself is the man who killed his wife, and the revenge he exacts is horrible: he condemns himself to a lifelong abyss of crime.

A cop named Teddy, who was assigned to investigate the death of Lenny's wife, befriends Lenny. He helps him track down a man named John G. who was the other junkie from the break-in and rape. Lenny murders him, as Teddy watches and photographs the scene.

Although Lenny carries the photo with him, he can't remember committing the act of revenge. He continues his 'search' for the 'man who killed his wife' -- a search that corrput Teddy decides to put to use for his own purposes. He gets Lenny to murder drug dealer Jimmy Ganz.

In a crucial plot twist, both comedic and dramatic, Lenny decides to put on Jimmy's clothes and steal his Jaguar and his $20,000. But he is fooled by a note from Jimmy's partner girlfriend Natalie, which he finds in the pocket of Jimmy's designer suit. He meets her at the bar where she arranges drug deals for Jimmy.

Natalie recognizes Jimmy's car and suit and is suspicious. Lenny mentions his memory problem, and Natalie recalls hearing about his condition from a cop who was looking for him (not Teddy, though, whom she's never seen). She tests Sammy's memory in a sly way involving beer and spit.

She tells Jimmy's partner Dodd that Lenny has Jimmy's car. Dodd finds him driving around town in the Jaguar and gets the clueless Lenny to stop. A confrontation ensues and Lenny gets out of the car and runs; amusingly, Lenny forgets why he's running, spots Dodd and then starts chasing him. A gunshot from Dodd convinces him to start running away from him, and somehow he finds the car and rockets off.

He breaks into Dodd's motel room and decides to wait for him there, but forgets this and takes a shower. Dodd comes into the room, and Lenny warily turns off the shower. When Dodd enters the bathroom, Lenny suddenly jumps him and knocks him over the head with a bottle. He ties him up, stuffs his body in a closet, and calls Teddy for help. But then he lies on the bed and forgets what he just did!

Teddy comes over, hears Dodd struggling and agrees to help Lenny get rid of him. In one of this intricate movie's few plot holes, Dodd inexplicably agrees to leave town (he could have simply come back 15 minutes later and shot Lenny).

Lenny goes to Natalie's house and confronts her about Dodd, referring to his note: "Dodd - get rid of him for Natalie". Relieved that Dodd is out of the picture (there's that plot hole again), she decides to "help" him by looking up John G.'s license plate -- which is actually Teddy's license plate which Lenny had tattooed on his thigh right after murdering Jimmy.

Lenny is astonished to discover that the John Edward Gammel on the motor vehicle info is the Teddy from his own notes, and Lenny then murders him. Not that he'll remember it, of course.

Synonyms within Context: Memento

Modern Usage: Memento

Commercial Usage: Memento

Domain	Title
Books	Memento (reference) Memento & Following (reference) Memento Mori (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Fiscaal Memento (reference) Memento De L Arrete Des Comptes (reference) Memento Der Effecten - Cd Rom (reference) Memento Des Valeurs (reference) (more periodical examples)

Theater & Movies	Memento (reference) Memento (Limited Edition) (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	James Adler: Memento Mori (An AIDS Requiem) (reference) Memento Mori/Requiem Baritone/& (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Image Slideshow: Memento

Usage Frequency: Memento

Expression: Memento

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Memento

Modern Translations: Memento

Language		Translations for "memento"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		aandenking (keepsake, souvenir). (various references)

Albanian		përkujtesë (memorandum, minute), kujtim (anamnesis, memory, mind, recall, recollection, remembrance, souvenir, token). (various references)

Arabic		‏تذكار (keepsake, remembrance, souvenir, token, trophy), ‏التذكرة. (various references)

Bulgarian		спомен (keepsake, memory, mind, relic, remembrance, reminiscence), напомняне (prompt, recall, redolence, reminder). (various references)

Catalan		record (keepsake, souvenir). (various references)

Chinese		纪念品 (Fairing, fairings, keepsake, souvenir). (various references)

Czech		memorandum (memo, memorandum), memento, připomínka (remark, reminder), památka (keepsake, memory, monument, relic, remembrance, souvenir). (various references)

Danish		souvenir (keepsake, souvenir). (various references)

Dutch		gedenkschrift (keepsake, souvenir), aandenken (keepsake, memory, recollection, souvenir). (various references)

Esperanto		memorigaĵo (keepsake, souvenir), memoraĵo (keepsake, souvenir). (various references)

Farsi		یادگاری (Remembrance, Token), یاداور (Reminder, Reminiscent), نشان (Aim, Attribute, Badge, Banner, Brand, Clue, Emblem, Ensign, Hallmark, Impress, Mark, Medal, Plaque, Presage, Score, Seal, Show, Sign, Signal, Stamp, Standard, Symbol, Symptom, Tally, Target, Token, Trace, Track, Tract), خاطره (Impression, Memoir, Memory, Reminiscence, Reminiscent, Souvenir). (various references)

Finnish		muistoesine (souvenir). (various references)

French		souvenir (memory). (various references)

Frisian		oantins (keepsake, souvenir), oantinken (keepsake, souvenir). (various references)

German		Andenken (keepsake, keepsakes, memory, recollection, remembrance, souvenir, souvenirs, token, trophy), Erinnerung (keepsake, memorization, memory, recollection, rememberance, remembrance, remembrance (of), reminder, reminiscence, retrospection, souvenir). (various references)

Greek		ενθύμιο (keepsake, remembrance, remeobrance, reminder, souvenir). (various references)

Hebrew		מזכרת (keepsake, record, remembrance, souvenir, trophy). (various references)

Hungarian		mementó, emlékeztető (commemorative, memorial, suggestive). (various references)

Italian		memoria (brief, heirloom, keepsake, memory, mind, recollection, remembrance, souvenir, storage). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		記念物 (souvenir), 記念品 (souvenir), 形見 (souvenir), 忘れ形見 (keepsake, posthumous child, souvenir). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		きねんひん (souvenir), きねんぶつ (souvenir), かたみ (one side of a body, shoulders, souvenir), わすれがたみ (keepsake, posthumous child, souvenir). (various references)

Norwegian		minnesmerke (keepsake, monument, souvenir). (various references)

Pig Latin		ementomay

Polish		pamiątka. (various references)

Portuguese		memento (agenda), membrana (bridle, connective, diaphragm, film, membrane, tunic), memória (memoir, memory, mind, recollection, record, remembrance, report, retention), recordação (keepsake, mind, recall, recollection, remembrance, souvenir), lembrança (felicity, keepsake, memory, mind, recollection, refresher, relic, remembrance, reminder, souvenir). (various references)

Romanian		memento (remembrancer, reminder, tickler, vade mecum), amintire (keepsake, memorial, memory, mention, mind, phantom, recollection, relic, remembrance, souvenir, token). (various references)

Russian		сувенир (favour, souvenir). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		uspomena (keepsake, memory, remembrance, reminiscence, souvenir, token), spomen (commemoration, remembrance). (various references)

Spanish		recuerdo (association, commemoration, keepsake, memory, recollection, remembrance, reminder, reminiscence, souvenir, token). (various references)

Swedish		minnessak (keepsake), minne (keepsake, mem, memory, mind, recall, recollection, relic, remembrance, reminiscence, souvenir, storage, token). (various references)

Turkish		yadigâr (commemorative, relic, remembrance, survival, token), hatıra (commemorative, heirloom, keepsake, memory, recollection, relic, remembrance, souvenir, survival, token), andaç (keepsake, souvenir). (various references)

Ukranian		сувенір (relic, remembrance, souvenir, token), нагадування (refresher, reminder). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Ancestral Language Translations: Memento

Bible Trace: Memento

Matched Bible Translations: Memento

Language	Luke Chapter 23, Verse 42
Cebuano	Ug unya siya miingon, "Jesus, hinumdumi ako inig-abut mo sa imong gingharian."
Chinese	就說、耶穌阿、你得國降臨的時候、求你記念我。
Croatian	Onda reèe: "Isuse, sjeti me se kada doðeš u kraljevstvo svoje."
Danish	Og han sagde: "Jesus! kom mig i Hu, når du kommer i dit Rige!"
Dutch	En hij zeide tot Jezus: Heere, gedenk mijner, als Gij in Uw Koninkrijk zult gekomen zijn.
Finnish	Ja hän sanoi: "Jeesus, muista minua, kun tulet valtakuntaasi".
French	Et il dit à Jésus: Souviens-toi de moi, quand tu viendras dans ton règne.
German	Und er sprach zu Jesu: HERR, gedenke an mich, wenn du in dein Reich kommst!
Haitian Creole	Epi li di Jezi: Chonje m' wi lè wa vin pran gouvènman an nan men ou!
Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari	Lalu ia berkata, "Yesus, ingatlah saya, kalau Engkau datang sebagai Raja!"
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama	Lalu katanya, "Ya Yesus, ingatlah kiranya akan hamba pada ketika Tuhan tiba kelak di dalam kerajaan-Mu."
Maori	Na ko tana meatanga ki a Ihu, E te Ariki, kia mahara koe ki ahau ina haere mai koe i runga i tou rangatiratanga.
Norwegian	Og han sa: Jesus! kom mig i hu når du kommer i ditt rike!
Portuguese	Então disse: Jesus, lembra-te de mim, quando entrares no teu reino.
Rumanian	Wi a zis lui Isus: ,,Doamne, adu-Yi aminte de mine, cknd vei veni kn Kmpqrqyia Ta!``
Shuar	Nuyá Jesusan chicharuk "Amesha akupin ajasam winiasha Enentáimtursata" Tímiayi.
Spanish	Y le dijo: --Jesús, acuérdate de mí cuando vengas en tu reino.
Swahili	Kisha akasema, "Ee Yesu! Unikumbuke wakati utakapoingia katika ufalme wako."
Swedish	Sedan sade han: "Jesus, tänk på mig, när du kommer i ditt rike."
Uma	Oti toe, pai' -i mpololitai Yesus, na'uli': "Yesus, kiwoi-a-kuwo, ane rata-poko mpai' jadi' Magau'!"
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations & Misspellings: Memento

Rhyming with "Memento"

Anagrams: Memento

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "e-e-m-m-n-o-t"
	-1 letter: moment, toneme.
	-2 letters: emmet, emote, monte.
	-3 letters: meet, meme, memo, meno, mete, mome, mote, neem, nome, note, omen, teem, teen, tome, tone.
	-4 letters: eme, eon, mem, men, met, mom, mon, mot, nee, net, nom, not, one, tee, ten, toe, tom, ton.
	-5 letters: em, en, et, me, mm, mo, ne, no, oe, om, on, to.
	Words containing the letters "e-e-m-m-n-o-t"
	+1 letter: mementos, movement.
	+2 letters: commented, emolument, manometer, mementoes, metronome, momentoes, monometer, monotreme, movements.
	+3 letters: anemometer, anemometry, antemortem, commentate, complement, embodiment, embossment, emoluments, employment, entombment, manometers, metonymies, metronomes, monometers, monotremes.
	+4 letters: anemometers, commentated, commentates, complements, countermemo, dynamometer, embodiments, embossments, embroilment, employments, empowerment, endometrium, entombments, implementor, improvement, manometries.
	+5 letters: anemometries, comanagement, commencement, commensurate, commentaries, committeeman, committeemen, communicatee, complemental, complemented, complimented, countermemos, cytomembrane, demolishment, dynamometers, emblazonment, embroilments, empoisonment, empowerments, geomagnetism, implementors, improvements, magnetometer, magnetometry, microelement, nonmetameric, recommitment, reemployment, unemployment.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Dejection	Affliction; sorry sight; memento mori; damper, wet blanket, Job's comforter.
Interment	Monument, cenotaph, shrine; grave stone, head stone, tomb stone; memento mori; hatchment, stone; obelisk, pyramid.
Memory	Things to be remembered, token of remembrance, memento, souvenir, keepsake, relic, memorabilia.
Record	Monument, hatchment, slab, tablet, trophy, achievement; obelisk, pillar, column, monolith; memorial; memento; (memory); testimonial, medal; commemoration; (celebration).
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	97.3%	108	31,306
Noun (proper)	2.7%	3	202,518
Total	100.00%	111	N/A

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
memento	571	memento picture	4
memento movie	55	memento trailer	4
memento mori	43	memento script	4
band memento	33	memento mulholland	3
lyrics memento	25	memento pearce	3
memento music	13	memento official site	3
memento dvd	13	memento wallpaper	3
memento nothing sacred	9	guitar memento tab	3
memento review	9	memento soundtrack	3
beginning memento	9	memento plot	3
lyrics memento nothing sacred	9	guy pearce of memento	3
explanation memento	7	dvd edition memento special	3
memento movie review	7	memento pic	3
memento quote	7	dvd easter eggs memento	2
map memento	6	memento short story	2
easter egg memento	5	memento spoiler	2
memento tab	5	memento box	2
easter eggs memento	4	memento resumen	2
memento film	4	director memento	2
memento pelicula	4	essay memento	2
memento summary	4	explanation memento movie	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	exuvias, memento. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Language	Date	Source	Luke Chapter 23, Verse 42
Greek (transliterated)	250 BC	Septuagint	Kai elegen tw ihsou mnhsqhti mou kurie otan elqhV en th basileia sou
Latin	405	Vulgate	Et dicebat ad Iesum Domine memento mei cum veneris in regnum tuum
Old English	990	West Saxon	And he cwæþ to þam hælende; þrihten. gemun þu me þonne þu cymst on þin rice;
Middle English	1395	Wyclif	And he seide to Jhesu, Lord, haue mynde of me, whanne thou comest `in to thi kyngdom.
Renaissance English	1526	Tyndale	And he sayde vnto Iesus: Lorde remember me when thou comest into thy kyngdome.
Jacobean English	1611	King James	And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Victorian English	1833	Webster	And he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Basic English	1964	Ogden	And he said, Jesus, keep me in mind when you come in your kingdom.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Expression using "memento": memento mori. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "memento": mementoes, mementos. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Memento" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: emment, Gemeente, Malenko, mament, manent, mememto, mement, menmento, Mereato, Milenko, momento. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "memento" (pronounced mume"ntō)
4	-e" n t ō	lento.
3	-n t ō	canto, pronto, Santo.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Memento

Definition: Memento

Memento

Noun

Synonym: Memento

Specialty Definition: Memento

Synonyms within Context: Memento

Dejection

Interment

Memory

Record

Crosswords: Memento

Modern Usage: Memento

Movie/TV Titles

Commercial Usage: Memento

Books

Periodicals

Theater & Movies

Music

Image Slideshow: Memento

Illustrations:Memento

Usage Frequency: Memento

Expression: Memento

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Memento

Modern Translations: Memento

Afrikaan

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Catalan

Chinese

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Esperanto

Farsi

Finnish

French

Frisian

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Norwegian

Pig Latin

Polish

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Ukranian

Ancestral Language Translations: Memento

Bible Trace: Memento

Matched Bible Translations: Memento

Derivations & Misspellings: Memento

Derivations

Misspellings

Rhyming with "Memento"

Anagrams: Memento

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Alternative Orthography: Memento

4D 65 6D 65 6E 74 6F

-- . -- . -. - ---

Bibliographic Items: "memento"

Public Service or Web Sites Triggered by: Memento

Illustrations:
Memento