Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2012 / iii / Paper 13 / 3 / i

Suppose there were distinct singular points of an algebraic variety $P,Q$. Let $L$ be their joining projective line. The homogeneous restriction $F{|}_L$ has degree $3$. At a singular point of an algebraic variety of a plane algebraic curve, the local defining equation has no constant or linear term, so its restriction to any line through that point vanishes to order at least $2$, unless the restriction is identically zero. Therefore a nonzero $F{|}_L$ would have at least four zeros counted with multiplicity, two at $P$ and two at $Q$, which a degree-$3$ homogeneous polynomial on ${\mathbb{P}}^1$ cannot have.

Hence $F{|}_L=0$. After choosing coordinates with $L=V(z)$, this says that every monomial of $F$ contains $z$, so $z$ divides $F$. That contradicts the irreducible polynomial hypothesis on the cubic. ThusThis elementary version of the Bézout theorem argument works in every characteristic, without assuming that the partial derivatives of the cubic have their characteristic-zero form.