Chinatown is a chillingly brilliant and brilliantly chilling masterpiece, which in my opinion was cheated out of that Best Picture, Director and Score Oscar (yes, I have seen The Godfather Part II). I mean it's so utterly fascinating that you really cannot take your eyes off the screen as it's really suspenseful, mysterious and witty. Naturally the performances help it a great deal, especially Jack Nicholson's unforgettable turn as J. J. Gittes, the cynical private detective with a heavy past.
And Faye Dunaway, who certainly gives one of her greatest performances here. Her biggest fans are simply crazy about her in Chinatown and even though I don't share their enthusiasm, I must admit that I was quite impressed. Just like in Network, she does not have much screentime (I assume that it can be about 30-35 minutes not a second more), but leaves a huge impact on the audience by her strange and strong presence. Nobody can even try to deny that Faye is Mrs. Mulwray. She's so her that I really cannot explain it.
Even mediocore actresses could give great performances having such a brilliant material Faye got, but we all know how talented she is and that she can do miracles with the worst roles. When she first appears, we know almost everything we need about Evelyn. She's a mysterious, cold and beautiful woman who hides a terrible secret but is also desperately seeking something she cannot get. I can only think of Julie Christie who has as radiant as Dunaway. Whenever she's onscreen, you cannot really take your eyes off her and just want more, more and more of her. In fact you want so much more that it becomes negative. Personally sometimes I felt that her performance was lacking something which could have been able to make it more substantial and I also felt that the impressions she left on me in a scene was not enough until the next one and that's why her overall effect became a bit weaker than I remembered. Also, occasionally she was overshadowed by Jack Nicholson.
Nevertheless it would be highly unfair from me to deny Faye's brilliance. I was certainly very impressed by some of her scenes, especially the one in the restaurant and the "my sister, my daughter" breakdown. She filled the latter with so many emotions and rage that it was really breathtaking. But the biggest achievement of her whole performance was that she added so many layers to the character of Evelyn and by this she made her incredibly mysterious and exciting. We always get to know a new face of her, get to discover her secrets.
There's also a fantastic symbol of Evelyn which Faye Dunaway says towards the end: she has a flaw in her iris and by this she reveals the whole solution of the mystery. Evelyn has an terrifying secret and Faye creates some kind of a suspense without giving anything away. And this completely sums up her whole performance: it says a lot about the plot, but never gives anything away.
When I saw her for the first time I was utterly amazed by her and though I really loved her this time too, I couldn't help being a little disappointed about it. As I said her whole performance was not substantial enough to completely grab me and sometimes she paled a bit. This might have been also due to the fact that the screentime is not on her side, but that can be overcome. And she ended up being a performance where I cannot really know what else to write about.
Nevertheless, Faye Dunaway was able to put on a very memorable and mysterious (count how many times I used it in this review) performance, which can certainly impress everyone (some more, some less) and totally fits her brilliant-brilliant movie. Good job anyway.
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