Did Ava Lord really care about Dwight in the end?

In Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, before Dwight kills Ava, she says she loves him and want to be with him - although she had a choice to kill him once and for all but still she didn't do it.

Was she really expressing her feelings for Dwight or was that another trap for him? That scene really put me in a curious state, as throughout the movie she was evil and villainous, so why did she say those things to Dwight? Did she really like him?

If she did, then why didn't she try to kill him before? If she didn't, then why didn't she shoot him in her last scene?

plot-explanation sin-city-a-dame-to-kill-for

Best Answer

She was lying.

To quote from the Sin City wiki, which describes Ava:

An ex-lover of Dwight McCarthy, she manipulates men with her good looks and an innocent facade for her own personal gain or amusement. An expert liar, she is considered a goddess by Manute, her towering manservant, and a "manipulative bitch" by Dwight. She represents the classic femme fatale, acting as a foil to Dwight's hard-boiled antihero.

Ava, throughout the movie (and the graphic novels), continually acts in a Machiavellian style, doing what's best for her and lying remorselessly to achieve this. Towards the end of the scene you describe, she tries to convince Dwight to pair with her, as this is the best option remaining for her.

She didn't kill him earlier as he served a purpose and was strengthening her position and helping her out. She didn't let him die in the last scene as she believed she could still convince him to pair with her and they would be a formidable team.

He, finally, sees through this facade of lies and kills her.

So to summarise - she was very much evil, very much a liar and very much tried to manipulate Dwight at the end of the scene. He saw through this and killed her.