Chinatown

How this film uses it

I feel like Gittes' persona suggests a man who was already defeated before the film begins. His world-weary competence, his professional cynicism and his California suntan are the costume of someone who learned something terrible about himself. He has been acting normal ever since. The events of the film reveal what he learned.

Where to see it

Gittes talking about his past in Chinatown. You hear, in dialogue only, about his history with the original Chinatown and the failure that already happened. The present story turns out to be a repeat of it.

How this film uses it

The whole film is told from Gittes' point of view. You know what he knows, you discover what he discovers and you are wrong alongside him. His masculine confidence and professional expertise get taken apart piece by piece. When the investigation fails, it's his way of seeing the world that fails.

Where to see it

Gittes misreading the drowned man's role. This is the central error of the investigation, and the most costly mistake his unreliable view makes.

How this film uses it

Each answer Gittes finds opens a deeper question. The water mystery hides a land conspiracy. The land conspiracy hides Noah Cross's power. That power hides an incest that makes the whole investigation tragic when you look back. The final collapse (Evelyn's death, the secret revealed) leaves Gittes and the audience with a truth that can't be used.

Where to see it

The final scene in Chinatown. Evelyn is shot dead by the police, Cross takes Katherine and every idea Gittes used to make sense of the case falls apart.

How this film uses it

John Alonzo photographs Los Angeles in the noir tradition of chiaroscuro, with a strong contrast between light and dark. The city looks sunny and corrupt at once, and many first-half scenes sit in deep blacks.

Where to see it

The confrontation at the Mulwray house. Gittes summons Cross there, and Cross admits he is behind the water shortage and the land grab.

How this film uses it

Noah Cross turns out to be both the film's master criminal and the father of Evelyn's daughter. You learn this in the final act, and it turns the whole investigation from a mystery into a tragedy. The reveal leaves the case unsolved and confirms that solving it was never possible.

Where to see it

Evelyn's confession: 'She's my sister and my daughter'. The secret the film held back for so long comes out as its most damaged line.

How this film uses it

Gittes follows the evidence with the confidence of a man who has solved cases before. Polanski gives him every clue he needs (the water at night, the glasses, the land purchases) and shows him reasoning correctly to the wrong conclusions. That makes the tragedy impossible to escape. Gittes is a brilliant detective in a situation that intelligence can't beat.

Where to see it

Gittes piecing together the water diversion scheme. His reasoning is correct and he has the wrong crime. His method leads him accurately into a larger trap.

How this film uses it

Every noir convention says the detective solves the crime and the woman is saved. Polanski follows every convention until the final scene, then refuses each one. Evelyn is shot, Noah Cross escapes and Chinatown claims them all. The film's power comes from building the expectation it destroys. The genre is what made the horror of the ending possible.

Where to see it

The final scene in Chinatown. The ending resolves nothing, and the genre's promise is openly broken.

How this film uses it

Gittes is a professional voyeur, someone who watches people for a living. The film shows him at it: photographing from a distance, watching through binoculars and eavesdropping. You share his position and his guilt. Later, the watcher becomes the one being watched and his watching is turned against him. At that point, the camera is fully caught up in his vulnerability.

Where to see it

Gittes photographing Mulwray from a distance. You're in the voyeur's position, and you share in what he sees and in what he misses.

How this film uses it

The amber and ochre tones present 1930s Los Angeles as a real historical setting. They also make it a classic picture of corruption, heat and moral decay.

Where to see it

The reservoir scenes. They are shot in dusty golden light, which makes the city's man-made supply of water feel like a mirage.

How this film uses it

Noah Cross (John Huston) is charming, upper-class and utterly monstrous. Polanski refuses to mark him as evil with the usual villain signals, which makes him more terrifying.

Where to see it

Cross calmly explaining 'The future, Mr. Gittes, the future'. He says it while revealing the full extent of his predatory ambition.