‘No Country for Old Men’: Bell and Chigurh and the motel room
[NOTE: This post is about the film "No Country for Old Men" and is brimming with SPOILERS. Do not read this if you have not seen the movie.]
In a previous post, we talked about an element of “No Country for Old Men” that had led to misunderstandings. Now we address something where there truly are several possible explanations: Sheriff Bell and Anton Chigurh in the motel room. Were they there at the same time? What is the deal with that scene?
First, the events leading up to it. Bell arrives at the hotel just as the Mexicans are fleeing the scene. (They learned where Moss was by talking to his mother-in-law at the bus station, you’ll recall.) Bell sees numerous spent bullet shells next to the wall outside the swimming pool, where Moss was standing the last time we saw him; floating in the pool is, presumably, the woman he’d been talking to. Bell hurries to Moss’ hotel room, where a wounded Mexican is crawling away and where Moss lies dead just inside the door.
It would appear the Mexicans arrived while Moss was still talking to the pool girl. Moss was carrying his rifle (in a case), so he was able to return fire on the Mexicans before fleeing to his room. With one of their own having been hit, and with the money not sitting in plain sight, and with Moss fighting back, the Mexicans aborted their mission and took off.
Bell informs Moss’ wife of her husband’s death, then goes to the morgue, then has coffee with the local sheriff, who tells him the money was not in the hotel room. He guesses the Mexicans must have taken it, but Bell points out that they were speeding away pretty quickly.
During this time is when Anton Chigurh visits the hotel room. When Bell returns after having coffee, the lock has been blown off the door. He stops outside the door. We can see the reflection of something off the shininess of the blown-off lock, but it’s impossible to tell exactly what we’re seeing, whether it’s Bell’s own reflection or the reflection of someone inside the room.
The sequence of shots then proceeds like this:
- Bell looking at the lock.
- Another shot of the lock, from Bell’s POV.
- Chigurh, mostly in darkness, inside the room, in the corner behind the door.
- Bell outside the door, mustering the courage to enter. The look on his face is one of fear — not, in my estimation, the grown-up kind that adults have when facing difficult situations, but the kind that children have when they are truly terrified of something beyond their control. Bell is genuinely afraid.
- Chigurh again, same as before.
- The blown-out lock, this time from Chigurh’s POV. Light from outside is coming in through the hole.
- Bell again. He finally summons his courage.
- Bell unholstering his gun and cocking it.
- Bell carefully but deliberately pushing the door open.
The next shot is from inside the darkened room. The door swings open with a creak and quietly but noticeably strikes the wall. There is no one behind the door. The door has swung open too far for that to be possible, and while it is in mid-swing we can see there are no feet darkening the stream of light underneath it. Chigurh is not in the room.
Bell enters, looks around, notes that the bathroom window is locked from the inside, meaning no one escaped that way. He sees the grate removed from the vent and the dime — which we recognize as Chigurh’s calling card — on the floor. The money was hidden in the vent, and now Chigurh has taken it.
(I was surprised that anyone had questions about who wound up with the money. The movie is pretty straightforward on that point, even giving us the dime to confirm that Chigurh had opened the grate and taken it — not to mention the crisp $100 bill he pays the boy with later.)
So the question remains: What about those two shots of Chigurh standing behind the door? We must accept that when Bell opens the door, Chigurh is not behind it. It’s easy to miss this, to assume he’s hiding behind it the whole time Bell is in the room. But on looking at the DVD screener that Miramax sent, it’s quite evident that he’s not.
Could he have been behind the door and then, just before Bell opened it, moved to another hiding place, like maybe the closet? It’s possible, but unlikely. Chigurh is a careful, methodical killer. Why would he choose a hiding place and then, at the last split-second, suddenly change his mind?
I believe those shots of Chigurh behind the door exist only in Bell’s imagination. He knows Chigurh has been here and could very well still be here. He’s imagining having to confront him. That’s why he takes so long to summon his courage. When he finally does it, the way he pushes open the door is not exaggerated or forceful, but it is deliberate. Bell has worked himself up imagining Chigurh is standing behind it, and now he’s snapping back into reality.
It’s like scaring yourself into thinking a burglar is lurking in your closet, and while you know it’s probably not true, you make sure to open the door all the way anyway to prove it. Bell doesn’t look behind the door because he doesn’t have to. He heard it open all the way — and besides, he knew he was only imagining things anyway.
I think the purpose of that shot of the locked bathroom window is to confirm that Chigurh’s presence in the room was imagined. Without it, we might think he escaped just before Bell opened the door. With it, we realize he wasn’t here to begin with (or, rather, that he came and went before Bell arrived).
But the locked window also conveys another message. If Chigurh represents Bell’s fears, then in a sense he is still here, and Bell must confront him, metaphorically if not literally. Bell’s showdown is with his fears, and the film’s subsequent scenes indicate that he has decided he’s not up to the task anymore.
[NOTE: Before posting comments with additional questions or observations, please read these other posts -- "The status of Moss"; "More 'No Country for Old Men' questions and answers" -- to see if the issues have already been addressed.]
January 7th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
This reminds me of how Harry Potter fanatics used to get in huge arguments about Snape and if Hermionie would end up with Harry or Ron.
January 7th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
This is my theory exactly. I haven’t read the discussion on your review thread, but that’s the view I’ve been advocating since the minute I came out of the movie. I’ve had to convince a lot of people that this was the case–some people who I normally think are very smart and very movie saavy didn’t even realize that this was a potential discontinuity in the plot. They just figured Chigurh was still behind the door and did not see any ambiguity whatsoever!
And okay, in all honesty, I did not take it as far as your last paragraph. I kept saying to people that the Coen’s set this scene up as “purposefully ambiguous”, but I often find myself in the fallacious trap of admiring ambiguity for ambiguity’s sake and fail to close the gap towards some practical significance. Nice job!
January 7th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
“Coens”. Sorry, I HATE the use of gratuitous apostrophe’s.
January 7th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Do we know for sure if Chigurh killed Moss’ wife? I wasn’t positive on that.
January 7th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I believe the movie’s intent is to indicate that yes, he killed her. When he leaves her house he checks the bottom of his boot. It had been previously established that he was always careful to make sure blood didn’t get on his boots when he killed people.
January 7th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
If Bell is imagining Chigurh in the motel room behind the door, it would follow that Chigurh’s tears during this scene are also imaginary, right? I mean, he didn’t even cry while sewing up his own thigh…a different kind of cry, but still…
January 8th, 2008 at 6:54 am
Another thing to consider:
When Moss pulls up to the motel there are two doors that are roped off in the crime scene and both room doors seem to have their locks blown out by the pressurized cow-killer. You could argue that much like the coin flip Chigurh uses to decide the fate of his victims, Moss also “flipped the coin” of his own survival by choosing the room on the left while Chigurh may have actually been in the room on the right. The precedent was already set for Lewellyn to have two rooms in use to hide the money… and I personally like the 50/50 chance of life or death from Chigurh’s coin flipping manifested in another form.
Just another thought.
January 8th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Correction for my previous post:
I wrote the wrong name.. I was saying Moss when I meant Sheriff Bell.
January 8th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I agree with your take. After seeing the movie, I couldn’t remember if the door hit the wall or not, but remember thinking that it did. The image you show, with an unbroken stream of light shining under the door confirms that Chigurh was not hiding behind the door when the Sherriff enters the room. I still need to see this movie again. Best movie of 2007, hands down.
January 8th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I agree with Q Tip. I didn’t think that Chigurh was imaginary. There were two hotel rooms with locks blown out. I supposed that he was in the room next door, after it was confirmed that he was not in the room Bell entered. And I assumed that Sheriff Bell sensed that as well, but backed away and didn’t attempt anymore exploration, because he knew that he was just an old man, not up for the fight. It would tie in with the theme anyway.
Anybody here read the book? Maybe that would help clarify things.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
My recollection of the air vent in the motel room where Llewelyn dies is that it wasn’t large enough to house the money bag.
My first thought upon seeing this was that Chigurh opened the vent to see if the money was hidden there, but discovered that it wasn’t, and moved on.
Perhaps Moss tried to hide the money there, and then realised it wasn’t gonna work and stashed it somewhere else, where it remains to this day (a la Fargo?)
This would explain why Chigurh doesn’t walk away with the case when he limps off at the end…perhaps?
January 9th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Bad film-making, guys. We see the lock blown out, we know that Bell knows about the air-hammer-gun thingy. We know he has good reason to be scared s***less. Why mislead the moviegoer? You know what that is? That’s a ‘Black Cat’ — a fake scare.
January 9th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
If Chigurh got the money, why did he go see Carla Jean and ask her for the money? He said he was only there to keep a promise he made to Moss. The promise being the one he made on the phone with Moss, saying if you don’t bring me the money then I will kill your wife. I’m not sure how Chigurh had the $100 bill at the end, but he didn’t walk away from the car accident with the case. (And I doubt he stopped by a bank and made a deposit or even went and hid the money.)
Also, I think Chigurh was in the hotel room right next to the one Sheriff Bell entered. Chigurh is well aware of how Moss hid and took the money last time (two hotel rooms, through the vents) so he made it a point to check both rooms. I agree with Q Tip that this scene represents chance and fate. However, it isn’t a strong statement because frankly, if I were Bell, I’d have checked out the room that Moss died in too, and not the other room. Bell is just lucky that he came when he did — after Chigurh had already checked the first room (noted with the dime on the floor).
January 9th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Hana, you’re misremembering. Chigurh does not ask Carla Jean for the money. She says, up front, “I ain’t got the money,” but he doesn’t ask her. She believes, incorrectly, that that’s why he’s there.
The promise Chigurh made to Moss was: “You bring me the money and I’ll let her go. Otherwise, she’s accountable, same as you.” Moss does not bring Chigurh the money; thus, Chigurh must kill Carla Jean. It doesn’t matter that Chigurh got the money anyway, without Moss delivering it to him. The point is that Moss did not do as instructed, and therefore Chigurh keeps his word and kills Moss’ wife.
For an explanation of why Chigurh was NOT in the room next to Moss’, see this blog entry.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Thanks! This is a very insightful take on that scene. I didn’t doubt that Chigurh was in the room until that damn door swung all the way open. I’m just wondering about it being in Bell’s imagination; is that a device that is setup elsewhere in the movie? I don’t remember.
Best movie this year! I can’t stop thinking about it.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Yea I’m still curious about the two-theory. When I saw the movie that’s what I thought to be happening: Bell outside one room anxious/scared and Chigurh inside the other room poised/waiting. It seemed like a film maker’s setup - kind of like a “coin flip” (as someone already noted) - “which door is he behind? door no. 1 or door no. 2?” - bring on the suspense. As far as Bell goes, yea I have to agree, the way he slumps and sits down on the bed is kind of like a forfeit / relief.
But Chigurh, his expressions say something else to me, he seemed agitated and disappointed - he was even tearing up. I believe the money was no where to be found - he opened the vent to make sure (remembering that’s where Moss hid it last time) only to find a different kind of ventilation shaft - this vent was too small to fit that big case of money - it was a funnel like vent - small round pipe and a big opening
kind of like: [ o ]
I don’t know where he got the $100 bill from but when I saw the movie I was pretty sure the mexicans took the money and not Chigurh. Bell noting that they sped off pretty quickly could just mean ‘Yea we just killed a bunch of people and have a big loot on our hands - so lets speed the heck out of here’
you know?
I think that would make for a sicker twist of fate - None of the three; Moss, Bell or Chigurh got the money. The bad-a$$ Moss was shot dead, the heroic Bell cowered and retired and the unstoppable hellspawn Chigurh broke his arm in a car crash. Now that’s comedy.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:59 am
One thing additional on the “confrontation” in the hotel room. The whole movie is about denying the expectations of the (Hollywood) audience. A protagonist dies. A bad guy largely escapes his just desserts. And finally the hoped for confrontation between the forces of Good (TLJ) and Evil (JB), just doesn’t happen. We think/hope it will. But nooooooooooooo.
January 19th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Any chance Chigurh killed the sheriff in the motel room and everything we see of Bell after that is some kind of afterlife? He visits an old friend he hasn’t seen in ages, has a conversation about death, and then is “retired”. The closing scene seems to suggest he is already on that journey to death.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I believe Bell got the money. The whole movie was told in flashback. Bell was on the scene at the hotel before the local police arrived. Bell has moral dilemma but takes early retirement. His wife has not reached retirement age. Bell’s dreams tells that his father gave him some money and has led him on the proper path. To retire because this is no country for old men.
January 25th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Wow, I just finished watching the movie, Cow Knocker may have something here. I am so confused that is why I needed to read about “the ending”. Great movie, but lots of ending questions!
January 26th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
“I was surprised that anyone had questions about who wound up with the money. The movie is pretty straightforward on that point, even giving us the dime to confirm that Chigurh had opened the grate and taken it — not to mention the crisp $100 bill he pays the boy with later.”
I disagree . The duct appeared much to small to hold the size of the satchel that Mose was carrying. It was a small vent box transitioning to an 8″ diameter duct which would make you think that he looked there (knowing what he knew from before) and it wasn’t there this time. It wouldn’t be unusual for a high priced killer to have a $100 on him. It certainly told you he was there at one point, but did he get the money???
February 9th, 2008 at 1:35 am
guess might have something. I thought maybe all scenes with Sheriff Bell after the return to the motel might have been earlier days before he went to El Paso. He was going to retire but didn’t after his wife says he’d better not stay and help clean. And the scene with his uncle (?) was also maybe days before when he was really troubled by the whole mess already. Does anyone see a flaw in this? Am I not remembering sometiing in those 2 scenes.
I wondered right after the movie if while he was sitting on the bed, letting his guard down, not being up to all this off the charts action (being an old man), that the maniac killer just shoots him because he is in the room (although I think Bell would have checked it out totally). Or maybe he shoots Bell later as Bell is leaving the motel or coming into the other room?????
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:45 am
He was there simply in the girls room not Llewelyn’s. I don’t remember seeing the keyway blown out in both rooms. Why didn’t they check her room?
Maybe he checked for the money in the wrong room and to show that they showed his calling card. Maybe he dreamt Moss dying too. So many ways to view this and nothing was straight forward, period.
I need to watch it again , then decide.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Initially I thought the vent was too small to hold the satchel, but if you watch the scene again, you’ll notice on the close up that there are scrapes on the bottom of the vent, consistent with the scrapings Chugirh noticed when Moss initially put the case in the ventilation at the earlier motel. The vent in the El Paso motel was small, but possibly big enough for Moss to stuff it in there upright with some force, causing the legs of the case to gouge the steel in the vent. Also, why would the Mexicans leave the El Paso scene in such a hurry, with the numbers they had versus only Moss, especially after having killed him? Was Chugirh there at the time of the shootout as well? How did Carla Jean’s mother die? Alot of unanswered questions to a great movie.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
The vent looks small, but it appears just large enough to hold the money. I think without any further indication one would have to assume that Chigurh retrieved the money. Not to mention the 100 dollar bill at the end representing the money being in his hands. As for why he doesn’t wander off with the case at the end after the car crash, that scene is quite a ways in the future. It appears after Moss’ wife buries her mom who had cancer. Her mom wasn’t killed in any gunfights, so she would’ve died in the future. Chigurh would have had plenty of time to put the money away somewhere. He simply goes to kill Moss’ wife because he’s psychotic; and he definitely does kill her, simbolized by the checking of the boots as was mentioned previously.
March 15th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Just saw the movie last night and came here to read up on theories because I was somewhat unsure about the ending, as well. But after reading the above, I am starting to see things more clearly. That vent was definitely too small to hide any money in there. I think that The Coen brothers chose to show us this kind of vent that had an obstruction, along with the dime to make us realize that Chigurh checked the vent and realized that the money wasn’t there - couldn’t have been there - otherwise, they would have shown us a vent like the last one and that would have said - ohhh ok, so Chigur got the money this time! One thing I do want to mention, though, is when Moss was headed to his room, passing by the pool where he was talking to that lady, he didn’t have anything with him but the shotgun. I think he knew that he would be followed and wasn’t going to get away with staying alive, and if you all recall, he promised his wife he would send her the money to her. Now, how or when he did that or where he sent it, and whether he even had the chance to tell her where it was or when she would receive it, we don’t know. But, I think that Chigurh was behind the door and he moved and was still hiding in the darkened room - maybe in a closet or under the bed. I think the reason they showed us the lock on the window was to show us that Chigurh was still in the room, even as Bell let his guard down, and Chigurh made the decision to not come out of hiding and kill him. If you recall, in the scene right before the Sheriff walks into the room, we see a look that could be perceived as fear/disappointment on Chigurh’s face - the first time we see really any emotion. I think he knew that with Moss gone, and the money nowhere to be found, his search was all for naught, 1) he didn’t get the money and 2) he didn’t get the satisfaction of killing Moss himself as he promised. So, he went on to kill his wife, because he didn’t get the money and that was his last task on his crazy karmic list.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:25 am
That vent was too small for the satchel. No one got the money, which would be a typical ending to a Cormac McCarthy book. The movie isn’t told in flashback, Bell hasn’t arrived in the afterlife in that last scene with his wife. He retired not because he ended up with the money but because he had given up on being a lawman in a world where evil always wins.
In the scene in the motel, Chigurh is not in the room in Bell’s imagination. McCarthy is too literal to rely on a device like that. I believe Chigurh must be in the next room, and this represents fate/chance as suggested by other posters.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Look at the vent again when T Lee Jones is in the motel room. The satchel couldn’t have been in there because the vent has a metal round barrier thing in it, unlike the vents in the other motel room earlier in the film It could not have fit in there, so where was the money? maybe Lewellen tried to hide it in there and couldn’t.
March 22nd, 2008 at 2:13 am
Chigurh doesn’t exist. It isn’t about who gets the money. He is a metaphor for all that is evil in modern times. Evil for evil sake. More nebulous and inexplicable even that the Vietnam war madness.
Consider the opening speech about ‘killing just for the need to kill’ and references to how things have changed between the two sheriffs. Consider how at the end the retired sheriff ‘wakes up’. Consider the use of the cattle killing device and how increasingly, modern murder takes on a cattle yard feel, picking off victims in bulk in a very detached way (firearms in high schools kind of thing).
All of the scenes could have occured without Chigurh. The two groups of players could have been responsible for all the action. The evil of the situation killed Llewellyn’s wife, the ‘chance’ of the situation that led to her husband being involved. Remember he was quite greedy to take the money and refuse a dying man water.
The scene in the final hotel room - Chigurh was there, just not visibly.
Consider the final scene where Chigurh pays the young boys to ‘not see him’. Consider the scene in the high rise where he toys with a victim, the implication being if he wasn’t seen, the accountant would live.
Not guns nor chance (car accident) can kill him because he doesn’t exist.
March 24th, 2008 at 12:04 am
On one of the posts, Snider said that he was surprised that people were wondering who got the money in the end. He said that it was clear in the movie that Chigurh got it. I agree that the opened grate and he dollar bill might mean that Chigurh tok out the money that was in there, but then, why would the money be there in the first place? We are shown that Moss got out of the first motel room with the money and later threw it over the wire gate onto the river bank. How did the money end up there? Also, Moss didn’t come to the motel with any money which raises another question since he is supposed to give the money to his wife. The vent was also the wrong shape for the briefcase. I think I definitely need to watch it again…There is so many questions and the more I read people’s comments, some of my questions get answered but more are raised.
Also, are these he people after the money?: Chigurh, the people who hired him and who he later killed, the Mexicans,
March 24th, 2008 at 12:31 am
Gladys: You must have missed the scene where, after getting out of the hospital, Moss goes back to where he threw the money over the fence and retrieves it. It’s only a few seconds, but it’s there.
March 24th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Her’e another question. Did Chigurh get caught in the end. I see he wandered away, yet he was pretty messed up and an ambulance was on the way. Who is to say the boys would keep quiet? Could it be possible the ambulance drivers could persue someone just to make sure they are passing up medical attention? Wouldn’t police be on the way as well since it was a small town and most likely there would be more available officers to arrive to the scene.
March 24th, 2008 at 10:56 am
OK, I believe Chigurh was in the next room, not in Bell’s imagination. And I believe he was there because he didn’t find the money in the first vent so he was still looking for it. And I believe when he gave the kid the $100 bill for the shirt it was shown to prove that he does indeed end up with the money. But my theory is that the mexicans got it at the motel before fleeing. I believe the mother dying is the key - it was to show that some time had passed from the motel scene until he arrived at her house. It may have only been a few days but enough for him to have tracked down the mexicans to retrieve the money and then stash the majority somewhere (hence him not having the bag with him when the wreck occurs) before heading to finish the deal he made by killing her.
March 26th, 2008 at 12:03 am
Did Moss really retrieve the money? I must have missed that crucial one then…didn’t even remember anything of the sort…thanks for the clarification! watching the movie again..
April 5th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Hi am I the only one here who thinks it was totally ludicrous to think that Moss would have returned to the drug deal gone bad scene, to deliver water to the guy that was most likely going to be dead before he got there????
April 6th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
My theory is that Chighur LOOKED in the vent, but didn’t find the money - it wasn’t large enough to house the satchel. I think the Mexicans got it, which is why they were shooting their way out of the crime scene - they would shoot anyone who came near their vehicle because they HAD the money (maybe Moss hid it elsewhere in the room). Whether Chighur was REALLY in the room or not - I go for the “all in Sheriff Bell’s imagination” - Chighur HAD been there, but left. The mother? - she died later, of “the cancer” - remember her complaining about having “the cancer”. Chighur killed the wife because her husband tried to save the money rather than his wife’s life - he had to make that point; he had to win - it was in his psychopathic makeup.
Another theory is that perhaps Sheriff Bell DID somehow get the money and knew that Chighur KNEW he had the money - which is why he wanted to know what TIME of day/night did his father die. He was afraid of his own death - which is why he imagined Chighur behind the door - it was the reason for his “dreams” too - the money his father “lose” was metaphorical for Sheriff Bell having FOUND the money. But he also knew he would have to “pay” (with his life) for double-crossing Chighur, so he saw his father “lighting the way” to his death
April 6th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
One of my BIGGEST questions is how did Moss know FOR SURE there was $2 million dollars - he couldn’t have counted it or he would have found the transponder earlier - no?
I don’t think Bell could have possibly made any “deal” with Chighur (for the money) - remember the conversation in hospital “No, you DON’T understand - he doesn’t make DEALS”.
I’m more confused now than when I started trying to analyze this film!!
April 14th, 2008 at 8:43 am
My theory is that Bell and Chighur were working together. They split the money and that is why Bell could retire. Chighur was the type of person that would not work on his own, but may have struck a deal with the Sheriff who saw his chance to get out.
April 15th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
The El Paso motel room scene possesses great ambiguity, yet we know instinctively that it has great significance, that in it lies the “key” to the film. That’s why it has spawned much speculation, some entirely wild and totally unsubstantiated elsewhere in the film, i.e., that Sheriff Bell took the money earlier, that Bell and Chigurh were working together, that Chigurh may have been chased down by ambulance drivers. Come on. If the Coen Brothers had intended any of these wild, unsubstantiated possibilities, they would be bad film makers indeed. They’re not. Outcomes must be the inexorable result of prior events and the actions of the characters must be consistent with their character as revealed earlier. What happens must result from the internal logic of the film or it is a bad film. Questions like “Could the money fit in the vent?” are interesting but entirely trivial. Is it really important whether the money was in the vent or whether Chigurh got it from there or at all? Not at all. This is not a caper movie. It’s a movie about living in a world full of unpredictable danger, a world where “you can’t see what’s coming next,” as the girl at the swimming pool tells Llewelyn right before they are both killed. As some have pointed out, Chigurh is like the living embodiment of this. He is like God or the Grim Reaper. And Sheriff Bell goes back to the room that night for only one reason–to confront Chigurh. He suspects he’s there because right before that scene the local lawman reminds him that Chigurh has gone back to the scene of the crime before.
What is important to ask is what makes Tommy Lee Jones so despairing at the end? What makes him quit sheriffing? What makes him visit his uncle who he hasn’t seen in a long time and question him about what he would do if he encountered the man who shot him and talk of his disappointment in not finding God? What makes him dream of death at the end? Sheriff Bell has undergone an enormous emotional/spiritual change. He can no longer go on. What caused this?
There are too possible theories. For the sake of my argument, assume that Chigurh is in the room when Sheriff Bell enters. The Coen brothers have gone to great pains to show us he’s in there and that he didn’t exit from the window. Chigurh hides under the bed or in the closet but doesn’t emerge while Bell is there. Sheriff Bell leaves and the change that comes over him is merely because he finally has grown weary of the country that has become no place for old men, a world he no longer understands and no longer wants to be part of. We know that Chigurh is in the room hiding and he is lucky that he didn’t kill him, but Sheriff Bell doesn’t know that. It is a tense scene but otherwise hasn’t much significance. It is a scene where something big almost happens but doesn’t.
But I think there is more depth there. I think the coin we see at the end of the scene is a clue. The camera stays on the coin for a long time–three seconds–before the scene ends. Why is it there? It’s not there to show us Chigurh had been there. We and Sheriff Bell already know he was there because the lock was blown out by his bolt gun. We but not Sheriff Bell know he is still there because we saw him in two separate shots and we know the window is locked. What if the coin is there to remind us of the God-like choice he foisted on the store clerk earlier in the film and does later on to Carla Jean? Think about Chigurh’s character. When elsewhere in the movie has Chigurh hid from anyone? Why should he suddenly do so here? He’s God, the Grim Reaper. He has no fear. It doesn’t make sense.
The interpretation that works best for me, that answers all the questions I’ve asked above is that after Sheriff Bell holsters his pistol and sits on the bed, Chigurh emerges from the closet or from under the bed and has the drop on him. Like he has done before and will do again, Chigurh makes Bell call the coin toss. He is lucky and Chigurh lets him go. But he is shaken by his so close encounter with sure death and feels weak and helpless. He also feels ashamed because of his cowardice in submitting to Chigurh’s test. (Only Carla Jean shows the courage to defy him and refuse to play his game.) That’s why he no longer feels up to the job and quits. That’s why he feels “overmatched.” That’s why he tells his uncle he thinks God has a low opinion of him. That’s why he asks him what he would do if he encountered the guy who shot and paralyzed him. That’s why he dreams of death at the end.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Does anyone know what motel was used in the film at El Paso. Was it on Alameda Ave?
May 7th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Chigurh and Bell is/are the same man…
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:50 am
Bell ends up with the money. The money was in the vent. There are two areas where the dust is parted which we know from earlier scenes is the sign the money bag was there. When Bell is having coffee with the other police guy he gets afraid at the descriptions of Chigurh’s crimes, after coffee he is in a rush to recheck the crime scene to see if the evilness will now follow him, since he now has the money. He sees the locks blown out and knows that Chigurh has been there. He checks the place and sits on the bed, he then sees the vent opened and knows that Chigurh’s knows that the money had been there, he then knows that he may figure out that Carla Jean had called him. This is why he puts his head in his hands. When visiting his uncle after all this there is a comment by the uncle in the conversation just after the “how many cats do you have ..” thing where he says out of context - “I got it safe”. I think the uncle is leery about Bell retiring because people may wonder where he got the money (since his wife still needs to work). God did not come into his life because he stole the money. He asks the uncle if he would shoot the guy that put him in the wheelchair to see if he would want revenge. Bell sees taking this money as revenge for the cruel world that has been created for old men and wants to justify it. The dream was him trying to deal with why he took the money.