It's a masterpiece of complex storytelling and character depth. Jake Gittes (Nicholson) is a private detective in 1937 Los Angeles, investigating the infidelities of a water board executive (Zwerling) whose sultry wife Evelyn (Dunaway) denies hiring Jake but changes her story when her husband's found dead. Jake's curiosity drags him much deeper into the situation as he uncovers what might be a major conspiracy to hold L.A. hostage to the water system owner, Noah Cross (Huston), who also happens to be Evelyn's estranged father.

Conflicting motivations and false leads fill the screen, along with revealed secrets, twisted relationships and surprise flashes of violence (Nicholson spends most of the film with a bandage and stitches on his nose after being fiercely attacked by Polanski's grinning goon). Richard Sylbert's production design and John Alonzo's cinematography gorgeously recreate the period and capture the inner workings of the characters without feeling pushy or flashy. Polanski's snaky, inventive directorial tricks seem invisible. And the performances are all note perfect. Nicholson and Dunaway are at the lean, sleek top of their craft, saying volumes with each slight glance. Huston mauls the screen with personality and humour. And even the bit players are superb, from thugs (Jenson and Polanski) and cops (Lopez and Bakalyan) to slimy businessmen (Hillerman) and eager sidekicks (Mantell and Glover).

And as the film progresses, it just gets better--the mystery expands and sharpens, the characters add layers upon layers, and clues and hints lurk in every scene about what's really going on and who's really who. This is expertly written and structured screenwriting. Even the title is a clever hint, as Jake continually recalls his previous life as a cop in Chinatown, where nothing was what it seemed. And of course, as the story inexorably draws him back there to a showdown with his former colleagues (Lopez's straight-arrow cop and Jenson's hired heavy), Polanski brilliantly grabs our hearts and minds and squeezes so subtly that we don't realise he's got us until it's too late.