Summary
The music intensifies as Jake drives to the house where Evelyn’s sister/Hollis’s mistress is staying. Jake pushes his way past the butler, Kahn. Evelyn rushes down the stairs and offers Jake lunch, saying the butler can fix him something. Jake asks to see the girl, but Evelyn says she’s upstairs. Jake sees Evelyn’s luggage and asks if she is going somewhere. Flustered, Evelyn says she is going to catch a train. Jake picks up the phone and calls the police, giving the address of the house to Escobar.
Jake shows Evelyn the glasses, angrily demanding to know the truth before Escobar gets there. Jake says she has no sister, so who is the girl. Evelyn says the girl’s name is Katherine, and she is Evelyn’s daughter. Jake slaps Evelyn and says he wants the truth. Evelyn replies, “She’s my sister.” Jake slaps her again. Evelyn says, “She’s my daughter.” Jake gets more aggressive with Evelyn until Evelyn shouts, “She’s my sister and my daughter!” Evelyn admits Katherine is the child of Evelyn and her father.
Jake asks if her father raped her. Evelyn shakes her head. Jake asks what happened. Evelyn says she ran away to Mexico. Hollis came and took care of her. Evelyn couldn’t see Katherine because she was only fifteen. But now Evelyn wants to stay with her. Evelyn says she plans to leave for Mexico with her daughter. Jake advises her to leave now while she can, and says Escobar will be looking for her on the trains. Jake suggests they go to Kahn’s place instead. Evelyn agrees and goes upstairs, saying on her way that the glasses didn’t belong to Hollis because he didn’t wear bifocals. Jake picks up the glasses, one lens of which is smashed. He confirms the lenses are bifocal. He pockets the glasses. Evelyn brings Katherine halfway down the stairs and introduces her to Jake. Evelyn then tells Jake Kahn’s address: 1712 Alameda.
Once Kahn leaves with Evelyn and Katherine, Jake phones Walsh and says Escobar is going to try to book him in about five minutes. He tells Walsh to wait for him at the office, and if he isn’t there in two hours, he should meet at 1712 Alameda. Walsh says, “Jesus. That’s in Chinatown, ain’t it?” Jake says, “I know where it is. Just do it.” He hangs up after Walsh confirms the address. Escobar arrives and Jake lets him in the house. He says they’re both too late and she flew the coop. Jake lies to Escobar, saying he believes Evelyn is at her maid’s house in San Pedro. Escobar insists that Jake accompany them to the address, threatening to bring Jake to the station if she’s not there.
At the supposed address of the maid’s house, Jake gets permission to go in alone. He knocks and is let in by a woman with a black eye. Curly and his family are sitting down to dinner. Curly is pleased to see Jake, and tells his upset-looking wife “this is the guy.” She says she knows. Jake gets Curly to sneak him out through the back and they drive off in Curly’s car. He asks Curly to drive slow. While ducking low on Curly’s lap, Jake makes a deal for Curly to transport on his boat a few people in exchange for clearing Curly’s debt. Curly reluctantly agrees. Jake brings him first to Evelyn’s mansion house so they can load up the truck with luggage and take the housekeeper. Jake sends Curly away to Kahn’s address.
Inside the home, Jake phones Noah and says he has found the girl. He tells Noah to come to his daughter’s house with the money he promised him. The shot pans down to the broken bifocals next to the phone. After nightfall, Noah arrives. Jake tells him the girl is safe, and that she is with her mother. He then shows Noah the obituary. He explains to Noah that the obituary means Noah murdered him there in the salt-water pool, and left his bifocals. Noah doesn’t react, but explains that Hollis was always interested in salt water in the desert because it evaporates at a lesser rate. Jake asks why Noah is going through with the $8.5 million dam project scam when he is already so rich. Noah says it’s because of “the future.” Addressing the fact he impregnated his own daughter, Noah says, “I don’t blame myself. See, Mr. Gitts [sic], most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place they’re capable of anything.” Noah then brings Claude Mulvihill, revealed as his henchmen, forward and asks him to take the glasses from Jake. Claude enters the frame and takes the glasses while holding a gun to Jake’s head. Noah asks where the girl is.
Jake drives with Claude and Noah to Chinatown, where Walsh and the other operative are waiting with handcuffs on. Escobar steps forward to arrest Jake too. Jake is pleased the police are there and tries to get Cross arrested. Escobar won’t hear it though, and tells his officer to cuff Jake to the car. Noah runs forward when he sees Katherine and Evelyn getting into Curly’s car. He introduces himself to Katherine as her grandfather, though he stalls before the word. Evelyn pushes her into her vehicle and sends the butler and housekeeper forward in Curly’s car. Evelyn tells her father to get away from Katherine. Noah insists he doesn’t have much time left and she’s as much his as hers.
Evelyn pulls out a gun and tells him to get away. Noah keeps moving forward. Jake shouts at Evelyn to let the police handle it. Evelyn says he owns the police. From the driver’s seat, Evelyn fires at her father’s shoulder to stop him opening the passenger door. She begins driving. Escobar shoots in the air and tells her to halt. When he fires at her vehicle, Jake, handcuffed between Escobar and his partner, moves so Escobar can’t shoot. The other officer can, however, and fires toward Evelyn’s car. Down the road, the car slows to a stop and a horn can be heard wailing.
Slowly, Jake and the other men at the scene run toward the stopped car. Katherine begins screaming. The men reach the car with the camera and it is revealed that Evelyn has been shot in the head and is facedown on the steering wheel, making the horn sound constantly. The bullet has exited through her eye socket and Katherine is screaming at the gory sight. Escobar orders that everyone in cuffs be released. Noah hugs her from behind and covers her eyes and she wriggles. He appears to almost be amused. Noah pulls Katherine away from the car as she screams, telling her to not look.
Jake stares at Evelyn’s body and quietly says, “As little as possible.” Escobar tells Jake’s partners to take him home. He tells Jake to leave, and that he’s doing him a favor. Jake doesn’t want to leave, but his associates bring him away. When Jake turns back to look at Evelyn’s body, Walsh says, “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” They walk away as concerned passersby move in to see what has happened. Sirens wail as Escobar shouts at people to get off the street. The film ends with credits rolling over a wide shot of the Chinatown street.
Analysis
Suspecting Evelyn of having been involved in Hollis’s murder, Jake goes to Evelyn’s second house to confront her with the evidence of the broken glasses he found in the backyard pond. Seeing that Evelyn has bags packed and is planning to go away, Jake assumes she is fleeing to escape prosecution for her crimes. Jake thus calls Lt. Escobar and gives the address where he can arrest Evelyn. However, in an instance of situational irony, it turns out that Jake has come to false conclusions. When he confronts Evelyn with the broken glasses and demands to know the truth, Evelyn resorts to her usual evasive, protective attitude. Angry with her deceitfulness, Jake slaps Evelyn to force the truth out of her. Between strikes, she explains that the young woman was never Hollis’s mistress. Katherine is actually Evelyn’s daughter and half-sister, conceived by Evelyn through an incestuous relationship with her father, Noah Cross. Hollis was photographed with Katherine because he brought her up from where she was living in Mexico.
With the shocking and humbling revelation, Polanski brings back the theme of trauma. Jake realizes Evelyn’s former deceit is explained by the shame associated with admitting she had a sexual relationship with her own father when she was a teenager. Jake also learns that Evelyn is going away not because she is evading the police, but because she is trying to protect her daughter from Noah, who Evelyn has good reason to want to keep Katherine safe from. To dig himself out of the hole he has created, Jake suggests Evelyn and Katherine hide out at the butler’s home to avoid being arrested by Escobar, who now believes Evelyn was involved in Hollis’s murder. In another twist, Jake also learns that the glasses couldn’t have been Hollis’s, as he didn’t wear bifocal lenses—a type of prescription usually only worn by elderly people, such as Noah.
Polanski builds further on the theme of trauma with Jake’s phone call to his operative Walsh. Upon hearing that Jake wants him to meet at an address in Chinatown, Walsh responds with alarm, which suggests he knows Jake’s traumatic history with Chinatown well. The reaction indicates that whatever happened there was so bad Jake has likely never returned, as if the neighborhood is cursed. But Jake brushes off Walsh’s concern, insisting he knows where 1712 Alameda is.
The theme of deceit returns as Jake attempts to trick Escobar and his partner into believing Evelyn fled the house before any of them got there. Pretending to be helpful, Jake leads the cops to Curly’s home, where he slips out unnoticed, lying across the bench seat of Curly’s truck. Believing he can simultaneously help Evelyn escape while proving Noah’s guilt in Hollis’s murder and exposing his conspiracy, Jake gets Noah to come to the Mulwray mansion, where he confronts Noah about his involvement in corruption, incest, and murder. However, in an instance of situational irony, Noah turns the tables on the too-cocky Jake, bringing forward Mulvihill, who holds Jake at gunpoint.
In the film’s climactic final scene, all of the main characters converge at Kahn’s address in Chinatown. Jake is relieved to find Escobar and his partner there, but they are so frustrated by his double-crossing that they won’t listen as he tries to explain Noah’s conspiracy. The focus shifts then to Evelyn and Katherine, who are trying to flee. When Noah attempts to get in the car with them, Evelyn fires a shot at her father’s arm. Escobar begins shooting, which prompts Jake—handcuffed to Escobar—to throw him off balance so as to help Evelyn get away. However, Jake’s intervention leads the other officer to fire at Evelyn’s escaping car, and a shot hits her in the back of the head.
As the men gather around the gory scene, Noah feigns upset as he wraps his arms around the traumatized Katherine. In this instance of dramatic irony, the viewer understands he is pleased to see Evelyn dead, as it means he can now claim guardianship over Katherine, who is vulnerable to being taken advantage of sexually in the same way Evelyn was at her age. Furthermore, Jake understands that Noah’s web of corruption is so vast that he will never face prosecution for his crimes. As Evelyn says, Noah owns the police.
The film ends with Escobar releasing Jake from custody and ordering his operatives to take him away from the crime scene. Jake cannot help but look back at Evelyn’s corpse and lament his disastrous attempt to help her. Recognizing that Jake is reliving the same powerlessness and trauma of the last time he tried to help a woman he was in love with, Walsh utters the iconic line, “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” In this brief statement, Walsh is suggesting that there is nothing Jake can do to fix the mess now. Once again, Jake’s desire to help a woman guaranteed she was harmed. And like the last time, all he can do is walk away and live with the remorse.
