What was the point of the escort scene? - Memento (2001) Discussion

[–] mad_weather 9 years ago

He recreates events of the day his wife was murdered. It doesn't say exactly why he does it, but I suppose he hopes that if he follows everything step by step it will somehow stimulate his memory to remember the murderer.

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[–] akshayj001 9 years ago

Okay, it sure seems like he was trying to recreate past events. But it's definitely not to try to remember the attacker. He burns all those things immediately afterwards. Why? It's got something to do with burning all those things he had told her to put around the room.

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[–] mad_weather 9 years ago

Because he failed... just as, most probably, he'd been failing uncounted times he had tried something similar before. Instead of resolution, these attempts only bring him more pain. So he chooses to break this chain.

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[–] TheHungryHippo (821) 6 years ago

He's also conditioning himself to believe that his wife died that night (if we are to believe Teddy his wife didn't die that night and that Leonard also conditioned himself to believe his wife dying of an insulin overdose happened to Sammy Jankis). By doing this he can escape the guilt he feels of actually being the one who was responsible (or at least somewhat responsible) for his wife's death.

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[–] the-author 9 years ago

Because Leonard dosn't really remeber the entire attack event.
This scenario does exactly what he says. He wakes up believing his wife is alive and has just gotten out of bed to go to the bathroom. If you notice in another scene, his arm tattoo says, "She is gone." So this must be a reminder for him. Most head trauma individuals don't remember the event itself, only things prior to being hit ( or in being in a car crash as well. )

Best unknown feature at IMDB.com
http://www.imdb.com/features/video/browse/

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[–] antoni109 8 years ago

I always interpreted this scene as just him wanting to feel like she is still alive and with him, so he pays the hooker to do that.

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

I thought it was to get himself to get some kind of closure by trying to provoke his memory to relive the times when she was still alive. Perhaps also an attempt to fool himself to live a small moment of happiness, as if it was all just a bad dream and she's still alive.

But the REAL reason, of course, is that the movie wouldn't be long enough without that time-wasting scene - the story, such as it is, is so paper-thin, that only with a trick like that added, can the movie seem like an actual movie.

(If you watch the movie chronologically, you see there's really nothing much there, except a crazy guy roams around murdering people and then the movie ends)

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[–] ExTechOp (2770) 6 years ago

(If you watch the movie chronologically, you see there's really nothing much there, except a crazy guy roams around murdering people and then the movie ends)

I noticed that too - but that's true of a lot of non-chronological stories. Chronologically, "Memento" makes logical sense but has no dramatic arc. Things just happen. We don't know WHY we're being told this story.

Found-footage films face the same problem - what if the chronological version of the story is boring? "Blair Witch" solved it by constructing a straight chronological narrative. But I was more interested in the "Cloverfield" solution, using "old not-quite-taped-over footage" to insert flashback scenes into the narrative.

BTW, I also agree that the hooker scene doesn't advance the narrative enough to justify its existence. It does feel like "padding." Maybe I'll try editing it out and seeing how the film plays.

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[–] ExTechOp (2770) 6 years ago

OK so I just reviewed it - it's only 10 minutes out of 113 minutes, so it wasn't necessary as "padding"

I think TheHungryHippo got it right: it's part of his self-conditioning process

He's reinforcing the notion that his wife died that night, and erasing any trace memories of her having survived

Remember, Sammy Jankis was proven to be faking because he FAILED to learn by conditioning. Leonard remembers enough about Sammy to set up his own "conditioning program."

We get confirmation of this in the final scene, where he "programs" himself to kill Teddy.

So the hooker scene is necessary for Leonard's conditioning AND to fool the audience - we think he's just being sentimental. Turns out he's being manipulative, and we're getting manipulated along with Leonard himself.

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[–] jpssteveshanahan (482) a month ago

"I always interpreted this scene as just him wanting to feel like she is still alive and with him, so he pays the hooker to do that"

This ☝️

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[–] Icecutter (363) 4 years ago

To recreate events. Maybe it was a dream

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[–] Klaymen999 (1) 3 years ago

Im missing alot, probably wrong and im just rambling
but I think it shows Leonards ability to plot, set up, stick to and execute a plan, over the course of the better part of a whole day, then assess the outcome, come to a conclusion, and make a decision about it, then walk a distance without forgetting what he was going to go do and why.

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[–] jpssteveshanahan (482) a month ago

Like the escort said to him:

"Whatever gets you off" 😁

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