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Some of film history's most memorable directors created films that were obviously autobiographical—for example, Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977), François Truffaut's The Four Hundred Blows (1959), and Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 (1963). The heroes in these films often seem to be simply better-looking versions of the director (with the exception of Woody Allen, who plays himself). Chinatown, released in 1974 but set in 1937 Los Angeles and starring Jack Nicholson as a hapless private investigator battling real estate crooks, doesn't seem at first glance to fit into this category. Director Roman Polanski didn't come to L.A. until 1968, never worked as an investigator, and hardly resembles the brash, all-American Nicholson. Nonetheless, Chinatown does draw heavily on Polanski's life and experiences. Though the main character, Nicholson's Jake Gittes, is not a stand-in for Polanksi, the director's biography is fragmented and refracted onto many separate elements and characters in......

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