Did Chigurh actually kill Carla?

I thought the way he dismissed her when she said he didn't have to kill her indicated there was no way in hell he wasn't going to kill her.

The question is of course open, the movie doesn't definitively answer it, so I could be wrong.

I think short of showing the murder, all points seem to indicate he killed her. In the book there is not a hint of ambiguity and he kills her.

It’s deliberately ambiguous, yes, but the clues suggest he killed her.

I agree. I’ve always thought he killed her.

"It's possible that he was checking the bottom of his boots for something else and showing him do this is just meant to trick the viewer."

But why would the writers want to "trick the viewer?" And why would they have such a character behave against the type established throughout the entire film? To make us like Chigurh? Make him seem like less of a psychopath?

Chigurh was a killing machine. A psychopath that played by his own rules. Those rules are shown to us. The coin toss sometimes dictates for Chigurh's killings. Otherwise he murders to survive (the officer at the beginning of the film), or if he has a specific target in mind (Llewelyn), or competition (several examples).

To cherry pick the fact that we've never seen him kill a woman has no consequence. Remember when the woman behind the desk at the apartments refused to answer Chigurh's question? The look in his eyes (and what we already know about him even this early in the film!) tells us that he is about to kill her. It's the noise in the next room that makes him think better of it and decide to pass on that one.

I agree that there is subtlety of sorts in the film. But I'd describe it more as a "you don't need to see another killing, we'll just let you know if Carla called the coin by showing you this instead." The scene begins when Carla walks into the room and meets Chigurh and finishes as he steps out of the house. Put that whole package together and you have your answer.

Keep in mind also the scene with Chirgurh's boot and Carson's blood.

Having said all that, you can decide for yourself if one fictional character murdered another fictional character. Try posing the question to the Coen brothers and see what they tell you.

And if they respond, "oh yeah, we definitely intended for people to know that Chigurh killed Carla at that point."

What will you think then?

Perhaps you're better off just thinking about it the way you'd like. Without outside noise.

I didn’t say it necessarily did, I just pointed it out.

Maybe he did check his boots inside, and then double checked outside again? Who knows?! It's obviously a call back to the scene in which he kills Wells and moves his shoes out of the way to avoid the blood. Anton is a thorough guy who also took his shoes and socks off when looking for the money in the motel after the shoot up, so it's believable enough that he would go as far as to double check his shoes outside Carla's house. The simple truth is that it's there to tell us he killed her, without even seeing it on screen.

As far as leaving her be because she wouldn't call the toss, well I think he would have just decided to shoot her for not calling it. You have to remember that earlier in the film he made the ultimatum to Moss that if he gave up the money, his wife would be left out of it. He declined so therefore his wife was as good as dead. He actually gave her a way out by even offering a toss at all.

watching the movie the first time i remember thinking "take the deal man" woulda loved to seen chigurh walk up to the crashed driver & bashed his head in

whynotwriteme,

It would make more sense for Chigurh to check his boots for blood inside where no one could see him. If he found blood on his boots he would have to take them off and doing so outside where people could see would bring unwanted attention to him. Perhaps Chigurh was checking his boots for something else that he may have stepped in.

I lean in the belief that she refused to play his coin toss game, thus he killed her.