Sequence Analysis: No Country for Old Men

Originally, I thought I might review No Country for Old Men, but I've come across a pretty serious point on contention about one sequence in the film based on class discussion today. So, in order to help share this with you, I took photos of the scene in question and will present them to you (in case you were wondering, the pictures were taken with my camera phone of the Blu Ray edition).

(necessary spoilers ahead if you haven't seen the film)

But first, the scene itself: near the end of the film, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) returns to the motel room where Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) was killed. It's at night, and he has a sneaking suspicion that Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) visited in Bell's absence.

To this point in the film, Bell has never met or seen Chigurh, partially because he's afraid of what may happen if they meet face to face. The point of contention in this scene occurs because of a cut away to the inside of the motel room, where Chigurh appears to be hiding, anticipating Sheriff Bell's entrance. I'm going to present you with as close as "shot by shot" as I could, so my question to you readers is:

Based on the way this sequence is constructed, where is Anton Chigurh in the motel room?

Okay, so Bell pulls up to the Motel and has immediately noticed something about the door that we cannot see yet.

You can't quite see it here, but the next shot (from Bell's POV) indicates that:

Chigurh used his pressurized air prod to knock the lock out (as he's done on previous occasions). Now, Llewelyn was killed by the Mexican drug dealers, who Bell saw fleeing the scene. I checked that scene, and you can't actually tell if the lock was blown out or not based on the positioning of the door, so this is our indicator that Chigurh was (or is) here.

Bell reacts to what he knows is Chigurh's trademark entrance.

A close up of the lock, to make it clear that who (has been or is) in the room.

Another shot of Bell, contemplating what might be behind the door.

We now come to the hotly contested shot:

A shot of Chigurh, pressed up against the wall of the interior of the room (somewhere), waiting to see if Bell opens the door. Forgive me for the washed out nature of the pic, but the only light source in the scene other than a beam of light on Javier Bardem's face is from the light shining through the lock hole (visible on the right side of the image). Note what appears to be a door hinge behind Chigurh, just behind the silencer on the shotgun.

To make it clear where the spot of light is coming from in the previous picture, there's a shot of Bell's headlights shining through the lock hole. The positioning of Chigurh would indicate that he's pressed against the wall near the closet based on where the beam hits.

Bell cocks his gun and decides to open the door. Missing is a shot of him nudging the door open in profile.

The door is open, and light floods into the motel room, illuminating the left of the frame and giving us some idea of the geography of the room, which is coupled with:

A reverse shot of Bell's silhoutte (mirroring an earlier shot where Chigurh does the same in a motel room similar to where Llewelyn has hidden the case full of money). Again, note that there is no room for Anton amidst the furniture, so he must then be to the left side of the screen.

The camera pans over, showing the bed and lamp, but still no Chigurh. The closet and bathroom are still shrouded in darkness (although it is less impenetrable onscreen than in the picture).
Llewelyn's blood, indicating that this is, in fact, the room he was murdered in and not the room next door (which is also taped off).

Forgive me for the difficulty to see the left side of the frame. On the DVD and Blu Ray, you can see all of Bell as he heads into the small hallway between the closet and bathroom.

A slightly brightened image to give you some idea that there's nothing in the closet, where Chigurh logically would have been if not in the room itself.

Bell turns on the bathroom light, facing away from the closet. Even in the dark, if Chigurh were in the closet, this would be where they would have likely exchanged gunfire. Instead, he proceeds into the well lit bathroom.

Bell looks at the window, which is closed. It seems unlikely that between when he opened the door and when he arrived in the bathroom that Chigurh had time to escape that way, but to make the point further, the Coen brothers move to the next shot:

A POV of the window, which is locked from the inside.

Bell walks out of the bathroom, facing the closet, and into the bedroom. Notice that IF Chigurh were in the closet, it would have been almost impossible to slip out without Bell seeing him in such close proximity.

Bell sits down on the bed, and looks to his left. He sees the following:


The air conditioning vent is open (this is the same M.O. that Llewelyn demonstrated in the first hotel room we saw him in) and the money - which Moss hid - is gone. He also sees:
The cover to the air conditioning sitting on the floor next to the screws and a dime (which is exactly what Chigurh used to open the A/C vent in the first hotel room). Chigurh was here, and Bell missed him again.

So I ask again: based on the images presented, where is Anton Chigurh in this motel room? Where does that shot come from? We've seen enough of the room to be sure where he's NOT, so what's left for him to be hiding in? There's not enough time to sneak out; while it has been demonstrated that he operates silently and is quick, Chigurh is nevertheless still portrayed as flesh and blood in the film (while he survives, he still bleeds and is clearly feeling the effects of being shot in the leg and breaking his arm).

My own theory is that shot of Chigurh - which is the only interior shot of the hotel room before Bell opens the door - isn't real. It's all in Bell's head, and the fact that he's imagining Javier Bardem is a movie conceit based on the fact that the audience knows who Chigurh is even if Bell doesn't. Not only is the image of Chigurh hiding inconsistent with the way he's portrayed anywhere else in the film, but the idea that Bell is fantasizing a shoot out to be (which never occurs, hence his sense of relief when he sits on the bed) is only there to reinforce the idea that the old Sheriff does not actually want to meet the psychopath.

This was rejected flatly by other members of the class, under the argument that at no point prior in the film is there precedent for a "fantasy" sequence, and therefore the Coens were intending to demonstrate that Chigurh is ethereal, metaphorical, and even spectral. If this is the case, why does a very tangible Anton wipe his boots off after killing Carla Jean and then flee the scene of a car accident. Just because his code is "not to be seen" does not negate the fact that Chigurh is still a real person, albeit Jason-like in his indestructability.

I'm open to other suggestions, but I hope I presented my case clearly. I will concede that, because it is difficult to see the lock on door 112 (the room next door), one could argue that Chigurh is hiding next door. It was a thought I had the first time I saw the film, but the editing indicates some continuity of images between the exterior headlights, the vacant lock hole, and the shaft of light to Chigurh's right. I sense that if we are meant to believe Chigurh is there at all, he's in the room Bell is walking into.

And yet, where is he?