Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) is a true piece
of cinema history. For one thing it is classic film noir, a genre rarely seen
nowadays, and for another the cast if filled with actors and key players from a
bygone era. It also helps that the plot is highly memorable to the point that
50 years later it has been parodied or referenced by shows such as Twin Peaks and even Tiny Toon Adventures. That’s a sign of cultural significance as far
as I am concerned.
The ideal place
to watch this movie would be in a classroom on cinema history, and if I recall
well that is exactly what I did around nine years ago in Vancouver. The course
was Hollywood cinema 1930-1960, a perfect time frame for Sunset Boulevard since it features cameos by Buster Keaton and
other actors of the silent films that ran in the 1930s, and iconic director
Cecil B. DeMille, who is responsible for a few classics himself. The movie’s lead
female character is movie star from the bygone era of the silent films, but her
troubles are most likely still relatable to many actresses to this day since
age is another factor in her fading career. Another perfect bit of casting,
Desmond is played by Gloria Swanson who was also a major star in silent films
and did in fact work with DeMille. I imagine there are quite a few books about
the making of this movie.
I particularly
enjoy how it grabs you right from the opening, with the lead character
addressing the audience from beyond the grave, or rather below the water since
we see his corpse floating in a pool. Some people don’t like an off-screen
voice explaining the action in movies, but for a situation like this in which
the main character is already dead I believe some clarification is required.
The floating
corpse in question belongs to Joe Gillis (William Holden) a Hollywood
screenwriter who like most writers has to work really hard to stay one step
ahead of poverty. After failing to sell a script, he has to flee from repossession
men who are after his car. This leads Joe to seek refuge in what he believes is
an abandoned mansion, but is in fact the home of Norma Desmond whom he
recognizes as someone who used to be big. “I am big,” is her reply.
“It’s the pictures that got smaller.” If I remember correctly Tiny Toon Adventures had their Joe
character respond to that line with “It’s her mind that got smaller.”
That parody is
actually not far off the mark because Norma Desmond is indeed living inside her
mind. With only her overly faithful butler Max (actor and director Erich von
Stroheim) keeping her company in her mansion, she relishes the days of old when
the public loved her. Nostalgia for fame is bringing her to the brink of
insanity, but she is planning a comeback with a self-written script. An actual
writer himself, Joe sees nothing good in her writing, but with the right
flattering words he convinces her to give him a job as a script doctor.
As the mentally
unstable Norma Desmond, Swanson is fascinating to watch. She seems like a ghost
walking in that big mansion relishing the days of old. It is sad to watch too,
since she never talks of family, friends or anything that really matters. All
she wants is for the cameras to capture her face again, and when she is under
the delusion that this will actually happen she undergoes a series of grotesque
beauty treatments shown in a montage that could be mistaken for scenes from a
horror movie. Once again, I am sure there is plenty here that modern actresses
can identify with.
Holden is also
great as Joe, who is played with an interesting blend of cynicism, opportunism
and at times decency. Sometimes you think he may deserve to end up in that
pool, others you think he should have just moved out of that mansion as soon as
possible. I imagine Sunset Boulevard’s
own writers, including Wilder the director, must have had some fun writing Joe’s
lines in particular.
This movie would
make an interesting double feature with All
About Eve since they are both cautionary tales about obsessions with fame,
ageing and jealousy. They are certainly not flattering portraits of life in
Hollywood, nor I suppose 100 per cent accurate, but they should definitely be
watched by anyone who thinks fame is all that matters. Joe might have something
to say about that while they fish his body out of the pool.
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