Having just watched Chinatown, I felt the mise-en-scene and cinematography in Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974) somewhat contradicts the movie’s plot. The character’s costumes where rather dull and the only real pop of color was Evelyn Mulwray’s red lipstick. A majority of the shots were static and used a wide lens, with the exception of the occasional close up of a character’s face in a moment of realization. With this said, the story was thrilling and completely heart wrenching; not at all reflected by the stage, costumes, or frame.
*Spoiler*
On a separate note, one of the most emotional parts of the movie was Evelyn Mulwray’s death. What really surprised me and touched me was solemn and sad stare into Evelyn’s bloody face. Gittes’ is calm and very skeptical, even in the face of death and murder and Evelyn’s death is no exception. The contrast between her death and Gittes’ calmness is heart breaking and powerful, because even though he does not verbally express his emotions, you can literally see in his eyes how truly hurt he is.
The contradictory feel of the lack of color in comparison to the heavily emotional plot may reinforce the feeling that nothing is quite right in Chinatown. Also in the ending, the line spoken by Walsh, “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown,” is very revealing of one of the major theme: that Chinatown is a place where corruption runs rampant and truth is muted.