Christopher Nolan and The Non-Linear Story

Christopher Nolan is hailed as one of the greatest directors of the 21st century. From his breakout film Memento to his highly anticipated Tenet released to theatres early this September, Nolan has established himself as the master of complex storylines and the art of non-linear storytelling. In this post, I will explore how his films are like no other, and how his experimentation with time has led to some movies that will be cherished and exemplified for years to come.

One of Nolan’s first films was Memento in 2000. The film tells the tale of Leonard Shelby (played flawlessly by Guy Pearce), an amnesiac obsessed with seeking revenge on the murderer of his wife. It follows a non-linear plot line, jumping between scenes and relying heavily on visual cues/objects to tell the story. Pop Culture Bento’s article in 2017, “How Christopher Nolan Exploits Film Structure to Heighten Narrative”, goes into depth to explain the non-linear structure employed through editing by Nolan in the film: “Simulating Leonard’s retrograde amnesia, the film’s editing is disjointed and inter-splices two converging timelines in alternating chunks of a few minutes each, with one timeline running in reverse-chronological order.  This nonlinear structure has compelling narrative implications, and strongly affects the parsing out of information to the viewer, which mirrors the parsing out of information from Leonard to himself in his notes and photographs” (Russell). The film is a brilliant insight into the obstacles a person with amnesia faces every day, as well as the importance of objective versus subjective truth.

One of my personal favorites from Nolan is The Prestige (2006). Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) are two rival Victorian magicians after a fatal performance accident resulted in the death of Angier’s wife, Piper (Angie McCullough). The film shows the dangers of obsession and the powers of deception through a series of increasingly more daring and breathtaking magic tricks. The audience remains on the edge of their seats during the entire movie, and the stupefying twist at the end leaves viewers shocked to their core. The story is brilliantly told through both magicians’ diaries as well as cross-cuts back to Borden’s present-day execution trial. As explained by Justin Russell, “Through his use of obscure structure, Nolan asserts that filmmaking, like any creative endeavor, is a trick of the eye, a sleight of hand, every edit a misdirection, a transformation of the ordinary into something magical” (Russell). It is through Nolan’s experimentation with linear plot progression that this film gains its true magic and becomes something truly worth remembering.

Over the past 22 years, Nolan has established a name for himself and has created a series of truly beautiful films. It is through his brilliant manipulation of time and utilization of key themes such as deception, obsession, and the distortion of truth that Nolan has permanently transformed the film industry, and will continue to shock future audiences for years to come.

Sources:

 

Russell, Justin. “How Christopher Nolan Exploits Film Structure to Heighten Narrative”. Pop Culture Bento. 26 July 2017. https://popculturebento.com/christopher-nolan-film-structure/.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *