Whatever your theory of the movie is, you should have an idea of what Lenny does with his life after Teddy.
I believe, based on what I see in the film, that Lenny is going to continue hunting. The debate I have in my mind is whether he will continue to only hunt the dead Teddy or will start searching for other victims. While I think Lenny has chosen to be immoral, I prefer to believe he will only continue to hunt the dead Teddy.
The end seems pretty clear to me that he realizes on some level that he needs it for a purpose in life.
Though I believe he is capable of editing/deleting the tattoo to search for other John Gs, I like to believe on some level, he is killing Teddy in order to prevent anyone from getting him to kill others. The license plate tattoo allows him to continue his quest but only for a particular person. Teddy alluded to Lenny continuing to search for the dead 2nd attack, but then Teddy mucked up the plan, by trying to convince Lenny the quest was over.
But I do have my doubts about Lenny only continuing to search for a dead teddy, since he is choosing an immoral path in deciding to kill Teddy in the first place....
The idea that he may be ending the hunt does seem to be suggested at the start of the film, but at the end of the film I see a different suggestion, so the start serves as a red herring. The ending of the film suggests continuation (especially since it is the "middle" of the story). Lenny has taken a picture of a dead body, he is also provided evidence of a different completion (the happy/pointing finger picture), and Teddy tells him that the 2nd attacker is dead.
After all Teddy says, Lenny does choose to stop his hunt for the 2nd attacker (which indicates to me that Lenny believes Teddy that the 2nd attacker is dead), but we are explicitly shown Lenny destroy the evidence and he is NOT shown choosing to get the "I've done it" tattoo. Instead we are shown that even though he is no longer hunting the 2nd attacker, he also consciously chooses not only to continue hunting, but consciously chooses to start a false quest for a man he does not believe is the 2nd attacker.
And this supports Teddy suggestions that he has a purpose: "A romantic quest that you wouldn't end even if I wasn't in the picture." The film seems to me to show him only dream about ending the hunt, when he believes the quest is on!
The entire structure of the story hints at repeating elements, spirals (Nolan refers to the narrative as "a cycle in an ever widening gyre - in other words, a spiral of chaos that Leonard is perpetually sliding down" James Mottram "The Making of Memento" NY: Faber and Faber, 2002, p 34)
It seems to me that if Nolan intended to show Lenny wanting the quest to end, he only needed, at the end of the story, to show him getting the "I've done it" tattoo during the opening credits. He started it on the dead Teddy picture (suggesting completion), but then explicitly shows us Lenny destroying other pictures in order to lie to himself to be happy. He alludes to destruction of other facts in his files, Teddy allusion of a never-ending quest. The film ends with us knowing Lenny is continuing on a hunt he created by lying to himself. Again for me the ending suggests a cycle, the repeating nature of his life.
Also the entire film hangs upon Lenny's conscious choice at the end to not only continue hunting but to start a false quest. If Lenny had decided to quit or decided to not lie about Teddy or even chose to kill him in moral outrage, there would be no film...
The ending of the story that I see is our understanding of what happened to Lenny and how events made him what he has become (an immoral killer). The film is more in the sense of a classic tragedy with a flawed protagonist. I don't see it as a film about a man getting revenge and having a happy ending.
Along those lines there is another quote from Nolan:
"I knew he[Leonard] would need an extraordinary focus of energy and a specific goal for his life that could never be let go of. For Leonard, in a way, the worst thing that could happen to him is to achieve his quest, because then he’s left with nothing. For me, that's quite a compelling way to look at the way somebody lives their life; the things that they use as points of focus to distract themselves from the bigger picture, as it were, their place in the universe, if you like."
From James Mottram's "The Making of Memento", 2002, Faber and Faber Limited, page 171.
And this to me is also very much in line with Teddy's comments in the film:
1) "Well, I guess I can only make you remember the things you wanna be true."
2) "You, you wander around, you're playing detective. You live in a dream, kid. A dead wife to pine for. A sense of purpose to your life. A romantic quest that you wouldn't end even if I wasn't in the picture."
And the "could never let go of", still goes along with "perpetual" and "ever widening gyre" I quoted from Nolan earlier.
I think that since now there will be no more Teddy always hanging around and pretty much manipulating Lenny to kill people and give Lenny thoughts of what his life is about etc, Lenny will be able to get a life.
This seems inconsistent with the film, since we are explicitly shown Lenny successfully setting up a hunt and carrying it out with Teddy's help (or knowledge).
He might not know what the tattoos are about. He might continue to take photos but what will inspire him to take a photo? He finally got to the point that he took a photo of Teddy because he wanted to remember him, wanted to know who he was.
If Natalie had not had a score to settle with Teddy, I think he would still be alive.
This is not consistent with the film's ending. How/when do you think Natalie got Lenny to write down and tattoo Teddy's license plate? Even without Natalie in the film, Lenny would have still searched with DMV access to run the plate which would have led to Teddy's death.
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eighteen_percent_gray
10 years ago
But I do have my doubts about Lenny only continuing to search for a dead teddy, since he is choosing an immoral path in deciding to kill Teddy in the first place....
He did not decide to kill Teddy. He only wanted to know who he was. He found it was the man he was looking for.
You can't just say that at the end of the film (the middle) Lenny made the choice to set up a false quest, an immoral path. Why? He was doing this during the whole film. It was his goal in life.
Also see the author's answer below.
"Did the K-man do it or did the K-man do it?"
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sdckapr
10 years ago
He did not decide to kill Teddy. He only wanted to know who he was. He found it was the man he was looking for.
Then why did he put Teddy license plate as tattoo fact 6? When he did this he was deciding to kill him
You can't just say that at the end of the film (the middle) Lenny made the choice to set up a false quest, an immoral path. Why? He was doing this during the whole film. It was his goal in life.
No he believed his goal in life was vengeance for his wife's death, not to create a false quest. The false quests came for different reasons.
You seem to miss the fact that he was on 2 separate false quests within the film. The false quest in the Black and white scenes was to find and kill Jimmy Grantz. That false quest was created by Teddy (how much Lenny may or may not have understood it to be false is up for debate).
The false quest created in the middle of the story (end of the film) which is what much of the film deals with, is the false quest Lenny created after he decided to stop hunting for the real 2nd attacker and begin hunting for Teddy.
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eighteen_percent_gray
10 years ago
Then why did he put Teddy license plate as tattoo fact 6? When he did this he was deciding to kill him
He wanted to remember the license plate so as to find out who Teddy was. He did not tattoo "Kill Teddy" only the number. What does it matter that he assigned a number 6 to it?
You can't just say that at the end of the film (the middle) Lenny made the choice to set up a false quest, an immoral path. Why? He was doing this during the whole film. It was his goal in life.
No he believed his goal in life was vengeance for his wife's death, not to create a false quest.
That is what I said, he didn't make the choice to set up a false quest, he made the choice to continue finding a way to avenge his wife.
"Did the K-man do it or did the K-man do it?"
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