MovieChat Forums > Chinatown (1974) Discussion > Who hired Ida Sessions and why?

Who hired Ida Sessions and why?

posted 6 years ago by MyCocaine (48)
9 replies | jump to latest

Chinatown is one of my favourite films of all-time and I've seen it quite many times. But there is still something about it's plot that I don't quite understand and that is, who hired Ida Sessions to impersonate Mrs. Mulwray?

I suppose most viewers (myself included) assume it must’ve been Noah Cross and/or his associates in land scheme. But what's his angle there? Why would Cross want to get an investigator involved in this, especially if he already knew that Mulwray had to be killed because he was standing in way of their land scheme? Or did Cross kill him not because of land scheme but because of dispute about Kathrine? But even so, what was he trying to achieve by hiring Gittes through Ida Sessions? Or was it someone else who hired Ida Sessions to impersonate Mrs. Mulwray?

I suppose one could also just say that maybe it's one of those noir mysteries like in Big Sleep where everyone is lost in the complex plot, but given that this is inciting incident of the film and how meticulously constructed Chinatown is, I just feel that there probably is logical answer to this question.

[–] BourbonKing (5778) 6 years ago

I love Chinatown as well, but when I first saw this back in the early 80s I immediately suspected it was Noah Cross. Cross knew about Catherine and that she was being hidden by Evelyn and her Hollis Mulwray so he set out to achieve two things: find the girl (his g-daughter) and discredit Hollis who had already turned against Noah's plans to incorporate the SF Valley into Los Angeles and have another damn built to supply it water. He knew that a P.I. would capitalize on embarrassing Hollis as having a love affair as it would hurt him politically and it was Noah Cross who could help him back up, at a price. Unfortunately, that didn't happen as Hollis was more principled than Noah expected so he had him whacked instead.

[–] MyCocaine (48) 6 years ago

That's pretty much the most logical answer that I could come to when I tried to figure this out, but I still have some problems with this theory.

So let's say it was Noah Cross who hired Ida Sessions and he had two reasons to do so:

1. To find Katherine

2. To discredit Hollis politically

So both of these reasons raise up some questions:

1. If she wanted to find Katherine, why didn't he just order his own thugs (like for example the guy that Polanski himself played in the film and his friend) to shadow Mulwray? Why go all the trouble with fake identities and Gittes?

2. Would simple affair be enough to discredit Mulwray so much that he wouldn't be able to oppose that land scheme and dam? Especially given that his wife could testify that he was set-up? And it's not like his politician trying to win votes or anything, he is chief engineer of one public department?

But I guess your theory is probably what Polanski and Towne had in mind and as sound as one can expect from Hollywood film. It's just so brilliant script that it really begs to be studied and questioned obsessively.

[–] BourbonKing (5778) 6 years ago

I never got the impression that the Thugs were all that good at being snoops. They're just thugs who protect Cross'es interests much in the same manner as henchmen in other movies.

I think it stands to reason that Noah would have killed Eveline soon after learning of Catherine's location but he was going to do it in the form of an accident or staged crime (robbery). Jake Gittes' involvement complicated Noah's plans and that's what we see play out in the movie.

[–] Information-Police (4890) 5 years ago

Yelburton did, to discredit and humiliate Mulray, become head of the water department, build the dam that Mulray opposed and make a mint.

Gittes accuses him of this and Yelburton says, "that's an outrageous accusation," with a smirk - not with the anger you'd expect if he were really outraged.

[–] macduggles (1) a year ago

‘Who hired Ida’ is a hanging plot point designed to get the ball rolling and maybe create a controversy?

[–] roreyking (607) 5 years ago

"Who hired Ida Sessions and why?"

God you're stupid. And you've seen Chinatown "quite many times" when it's obvious from one viewing? Sad..

[–] TheArgentinian (7111) 5 years ago

Asshole.

[–] roreyking (607) 5 years ago

Moron. Pendejon.

[–] roreyking (607) 9 months ago

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