Chinatown

Movie: Chinatown, 1974; 131 min
Director: Roman Polanski
Actors: Jack Nicolson, Faye Dunaway


Summary: J.J. Gittes, a private investigator, investigates an adultery case and soon finds himself in an investigation of a murder involving water. The murder is of Mr. Mulwray, a man who works for the Los Angeles water department.


Question 1: Choose a specific shot to describe, and analyze its plot significance.
Towards the beginning of the film, when the plot is just beginning to form, Gittes spies on Mr. Mulwray through a pair of binoculars. A series of shots alters between Gittes looking through his binoculars and Mr. Mulwary walking around a dry riverbed. Except, the shots of Mr. Mulwray are framed to look as if he is being seen through a binocular lens. This frame can take multiple purposes. It gives the audience a view of Mr. Mulwray through Gittes’ perspective. The binoculars give a closer view of the man, but they also provide an constricted view as well. The black binocular frame limits the audience’s sight of what is happening around Mr. Mulwray. This constricted view represents how little Gittes actually knows about Mr. Mulwray at this point in the plot. The shot also foreshadows something hidden and some sort of conspiracy. Not only does the binocular lens frame break the repetition of unframed shots in most films, but it also provides further insight into the plot of the film.


Question 2: What is the significance of the all white bedroom?
In the midst of chaos from the water conspiracy investigation, Gittes and Evelyn Mulwray find passion towards each other. One night after a near-death encounter, the two spend the night at Mrs. Mulwray’s house and there is a scene in her all white bedroom. This bedroom is a perfect example of mise en scene because is portrays multiple meanings. For one, the color of the room completely contrasts its owner because white typically signifies innocence, except Mrs. Mulwray does not seem very innocent. It is odd, however, that the room is entirely white. It suggests that she is completely innocent, yet nobody is completely innocent so this is suspicious. The complete white room can also take an alternate meaning; it can suggest that she is not innocent at all even though she comes off as innocent. The absence of innocence in the room serves as a foreshadowing mechanism for Mrs. Mulwray’s deep secret that is later revealed, showing proving that she really has no innocence at all.