Film 02 / 13 · Directed by Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan's Memento (2000)
Memento is Christopher Nolan's second feature, the 2000 thriller that made his name. Guy Pearce plays a man who cannot form new memories and hunts his wife's killer with notes, photos and tattoos, in a story told largely in reverse. It earned two Oscar nominations, for its screenplay and its editing.
Leonard Shelby lost the ability to make new memories in the attack that killed his wife. Every few minutes his mind resets.
Living in motels and relying on Polaroids, handwritten notes and tattoos, he searches for the man responsible. The people around him seem helpful, but he has no way of knowing whom to trust.
Ratings
As of 11 November 2026- IMDb8.4/101.5M votesTop 250 · #59
- Rotten Tomatoes93%Tomatometer · 184 reviewsPopcornmeter 94%
- Metacritic83/100Metascore · 34 reviews
- Letterboxd4.18/5Average rating
- Kinopoisk7.9/10413.2K votesTop 250 · #228
Editor's score
Lars Ziegler · 6 November 20268.0/ 10Average of seven craft categories, each out of 10.
| Screenplay | 10 |
|---|---|
| Direction | 9 |
| Acting | 8 |
| Cinematography | 7 |
| Sound & music | 6 |
| Editing | 10 |
| Design | 6 |
How the ranking adds up
Total 71.6 / 100Facts
- World premiere
Venice International Film Festival, Venice- Release (US)
- Runtime
- 113 min
- Genres
- Mystery · Thriller
- Based on
- Short story "Memento Mori" by Jonathan Nolan
- Studios
- Summit Entertainment, Team Todd
- Distributor
- Newmarket
- Budget
- $9 million
- Box office
- $43.3 million worldwide
$25.5 million domestic · $17.7 million international
Incl. re-releases · Box Office Mojo, 11 November 2026
Awards
Wikipedia, 11 November 2026| Ceremony | Won | Nominated |
|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | 0 | 2 |
| BAFTA | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Globes | 0 | 1 |
Cast
Billing order- 01Guy PearceLeonard
- 02Carrie-Anne MossNatalie
- 03Joe PantolianoTeddy
Key crew
- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Screenplay
- Christopher Nolan
- Producers
- Suzanne Todd, Jennifer Todd
- Cinematography
- Wally Pfister
- Editing
- Dody Dorn
- Music
- David Julyan
- Production design
- Patti Podesta
Production notes
- 01
The film is based on "Memento Mori", a short story by Nolan's brother Jonathan. The story was published in Esquire in March 2001, after the film had premiered.
- 02
Principal photography took about 25 days.
- 03
The colour scenes run backwards and the black-and-white scenes run forwards, so the audience, like Leonard, never knows what has just happened.