I thought that Natalie was playing Leonard. I thought that she was using him to get rid of men that were competing with her drug-dealing boyfriend. Then I thought that she was using him for his "money". Then I thought that maybe, just maybe she might love him, and perhaps she was helping him out of love (or pity as Leonard put it).
But no. Not only was she on a completely self-serving mission, she used Leonard's disability against him! She stole all the pens, got him good and pissed-off by insulting his late wife, and then when he hauled off and hit her, she used those injuries to get him to hurt another man.
A woman like Natalie gives women a bad name. Not only is she conniving and manipulative she also tries to use sex to get what she wants, although how well that works on a man that can't remember is hard to tell. But she tries it anyway. This woman has no shame, no remorse, no morals and really only cares for her boyfriend (James, the dead guy) as a steady stream of income.
Which leads me to wonder, as she is one of only four female characters in the movie, what kind of interaction Christopher Nolan has had with women.
Natalie, Catherine, Mrs. Jankis and the un-named hooker are the only women in the story. One's a manipulative monster, one is dead and worthy of unending devotion, but was shown as a very "uppity" woman (remember when she was in bed reading that novel?), one is an unstable woman who, according to Leonard, loved her husband so much that she starved him and eventually forced him to put her in a diabetic coma, and the last is a drugged out prostitute.
To be completely fair most of the male characters are the dredges of humanity. A crooked cop, a homicidal maniac, a con-artist desk clerk, a drug dealer. The only reasonably "normal" male character was Sammy Jankis, and he had brain damage!
Even so, is there some reason that Nolan decided on those four "stereotypes" of women? Did he believe that he was accurately representing women? Did he believe that it was the best way to push the movie into darker territory? Was he even thinking about his representation of women at all?
Even if he wasn't focused on, or even aware of how he was representing women, Nolan's portrayal seems less than complimentary to say the least.
This is a nice post. Personally Natalie as well as the other characters confused me. I actually believed that she was a decent woman until the movie got to the scene about the conversation between Leonard and her about Dodd. It showed her true nature as a manipulative woman who will use a man's handicap to get what she wants. She lies to get everything. All the characters lie in the movie to get things from Leonard. I got to this conclusion after I saw the scene between Natalie and Leonard. Teddy lies to Leonard to get him going on this murder spree, Natalie uses Leonard for the loss of her husband and insulting Leonard, the biggest liar is Leonard himself whose whole existence is a lie. Leonard's lies are not really bad, he is not harming anyone ( maybe just harming himself) but it's for his survival. As far as the question goes for the stereotype of women, maybe these female characters are based off Nolan's personal experience. On the other hand, maybe it's Nolan's intention to show how different characteristics of women can have different effects on the people that are close to them. Mrs. Jinkins: strong-headed, loving, her unwavering will to save her husband. Natalie: manipulative, cruel, and immoral. Mrs. Shepard: idle, simple, and caring. It could be in Nolan's eyes that women have these personalities inside of them that could either bring pain or joy.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that I was not the only one who had issues with figuring out it Natalie was good or not. I really wanted to believe that she was; I would see her help Leonard and being fairly kind towards him. But obviously I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteEverything about Natalie is horrid. From spitting in his beer to insulting his wife, Natalia is just a vile character.
The movie is filled with characters that we shouldn't like. The motel manager, for instance. He is a snake who uses Leonard's disability to get some extra cash. We really shouldn't like him, but for some reason I found myself enjoying his character. And lets not forget Lenny, the man who also uses Leonards ability against, but instead of just money, he wants people dead. Even as sketchy a character Lenny is, I like him.
Now with Natalie it is so hard to tell if the directer wanted us to like her character or not. In some instances, before we were shown the nastiness behind her true self, I liked Natalie's character. She didn't seem selfish and with Leonard's polaroid backing that asserttion("she will help you out of pity. She has also lost someone.")it becomes insanely hard to distinguish what side of the line her character falls; is she good or is she bad?
The answer: she's bad. And whether or not I agree that Nolan must have had some sort of bad experience with women, he is awfully good at making us hate Natalie.
Natalie was one of the many complicated and frankly fucked up characters of the film. However, she was incredibly intriguing. I could never imagine the sweet Natalie from the diner ever screaming such obscenities at Leonard. I honestly hadn't thought of Nolan's portrayal of the other women of the film. I'm glad you called that to my attention. But none of his characters are particularly normal or even decent; I'm also glad you mentioned that! However, I feel that any desperate and hysterical woman could somehow relate to Natalie, as she just wanted to find her boyfriend. I'm not justifying her actions, but rather relating to the hysteria she must be feeling as she suffers with the unsurity of where Jimmy is. No, it doesn't give her a right to seriously psych Leonard out, but her situtaion should also be considered.
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