The Ending
Chinatown's most innovative scene is
its ending. In this final scene, Polanski and the cast use a variety
of techniques to make the audience feel as though it is actually
experiencing the unfolding tragedy. The night setting serves as
an echo of the city's pervasive corruption and creates an odd intimacy
as the characters gather in the available light. The camera remains
consistently at eye level, with few sudden jumps and no extreme
close-ups, mimicking the vision of someone actually standing alongside
the characters. Some shots are framed by characters' shoulders and
the sides of heads, creating the feeling that we are in the middle
of the crowd onscreen.
Jake, whom the audience has come to identify with over
the course of the movie, is denied the successful conclusion often expected
of a film's protagonist. He is forced to betray the woman he was
trying to protect, and when Jake attempts to fulfill his traditional
role as the cinematic private detective and explain the case he has
just solved to the authorities, he is entirely ignored. Because Jake's
attempts to explain the truth are so ineffectual and so frequently
interrupted, and because Cross is so effective and composed, the
audience momentarily loses its identification with Jake's point
of view, identifying instead with the corrupt social structure itself.
Jake's arguments are desperate, clearly those of a man who knows
he holds the weaker ground, while Cross speaks calmly and warmly,
as if his sincerity and truthfulness are givens.
Cross is more implacable than ever in this scene. Even
when talking to Escobar, his eyes scan continually for any sign
of Evelyn and Katherine, zeroing in on them almost immediately.
Cross never raises his voice to Evelyn, even when she shoots him
in the arm, because he knows he does not need to. He tells Evelyn
that the only way to keep him from getting what he wants is to kill
him, a release that Polanski never provides. Instead, the movie
ends with Cross gathering Katherine up and spiriting her away, achieving
a victory that should have belonged to Jake.
The way Cross finally triumphs is the most devastating
part of the scene. Escobar lifts a gun to shoot at Evelyn's car
as she drives away and Jake performs the seemingly heroic act of
wresting the weapon from him, attempting for a moment to take back
the control denied him throughout the movie. Jake's mistake, though, becomes
apparent moments later. Escobar shot twice at the sky and even afterward
only aimed for the car's wheel, clearly intent on interrupting the
getaway in the safest way possible. Loach, however, fires into the
car—intentionally or not—and Evelyn is killed, shot through the
head and eye. The car rolls to a stop as Evelyn's head falls on
the horn, blaring it just as she did earlier in the movie, outside
of the safe house with Jake. The image of her destroyed eye is the
culmination of the film's assault on the expectations of the viewer.
