Despite Swank, 'Chinatown' Lacks Staying Power

True classics are, by definition, timeless; we see them again and again because they continue to offer something new. The most rigorous test of artistic achievement ascertains whether a work of art can hold up over time, whether it can still offer meaning to a changing audience. Director Roman Polanski's film "Chinatown" is an interesting case study in the construction of a classic. When "Chinatown" premiered in 1974, the film received outstanding critical praise and ten Oscar nominations. This was enough to make it a success in its time. The question now, twenty years after its premiere, is whether "Chinatown" is indeed a classic.

Polanski has adeptly managed to sharpen the pace and buildup of mystery in this slightly convoluted detective thriller. Set in Southern California in the mid-1930s, the film seethes with human greed, political corruption and family scandal, so that it seems that even the land surrounding Los Angeles is tainted.

In the role that launched him into stardom, Jack Nicholson brilliantly plays Jake Gittes, a private detective who specializes in spying on adulterous spouses. The film opens rather abruptly with a series of graphic photographs capturing a couple in several compromising positions, while a male voice--the betrayed husband--moans pitifully in the background. Although a rather abrasive fellow, Jack Gittes does his job expertly.

That's why he receives a visit from Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray, who hires him to spy on her husband, the chief engineer of Warren Power, a company which runs the water supply into the city and surrounding areas from an outlying reservoir. A new city plan proposes the building of a dam to allow more irrigation and Mulwray opposes the plan on physical principles, a view which will soon prove fatal. The thematic importance of water escalates with the drought that the region currently suffers. Water is literally life and death in Los Angeles, and to a ruthless opportunist it is a potential source of profit as well.

Gittes carries out a seemingly mundane investigation, tracking Mulwray until he captures him on camera embracing a young woman. A memorable shot shows Gittes, obscured and camera poised, with a reflection of the illicit scene in the lens. The case, however, is far from closed.

The mystery really begins when the newspapers get hold of the story, complete with pictures, and Mrs. Mulwray comes to Gittes' office claiming never to have hired him. The fact is, this Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray, played meticulously by Faye Dunaway, has never met Jake Gittes. Someone has been set up, and Gittes puts himself back on the case. Before long, Mulwray turns up dead in the water system, having drowned somehow in a dry riverbed, and the real Mrs. Mulwray is hiding more family secrets than the fact that she didn't love her husband.

With the introduction of more integral characters, most notably John Huston as Evelyn Mulwray's father, the plot keeps thickening before the actual climax, but surprisingly little action takes place in Chinatown. Even when it does, the location seems an afterthought in allegiance to the title. Rather, the name is most likely supposed to evoke the sense of mystery and otherworldliness embodied in the district. Perhaps if the plot did not twist around on itself so intricately, an abstract title would have worked.

Credit is due to Polanski for trying to differentiate "Chinatown" from the formulaic detective story which invariably moves from initial chaos to the final restoration of social order. Himself a victim of tragedy and public scandal, Polanski knows that injustice is far more prevalent than happy endings, and the dramatic impact is effective. Yet, other aspects of the film thwart this attempt at originality. Polanski wanted to evoke the world of the Raymond Chandler detective novels, without imitating the look of the black and white classics of the 1930s. Although "Chinatown" was filmed in color, the resemblance to the old Holly-wood thrillers veers towards imitation.

The characters' are well-drawn, the dialogue (by Robert,'Towne) well-written, the acting superb--why has "Chinatown" not withstood the test of time? Perhaps modern-day audiences don't take revelations of political and more corruption so personally anymore. Maybe the film meant more to a viewer in 1974. But meaning must evolve, not fade, and after two decades, "Chinatown" shows signs' of age.