Sunset Blvd is a classic American film noir filmed in 1950 and a lesson in what refusing to grow old gracefully can result in.
It was directed by Billy Wilder who made many other classic movies and its name provides the basis for its setting. The title is the famous Boulevard in Los Angeles and the playground of the rich and famous movie stars.
Leading actor William Holden plays the hack movie writer and Gloria Swanson stars as Norma Desmond, the aging actress that refuses to give up right until the fatal end.
Holden's character, Joe Gillis is a young writer and when we first meet him he is virtually bankrupt. His car is getting towed away and everyone is hankering after him for debts they want to collect. His encounter with Desmond gives him financial options as she ask him to write a screenplay that will return her to the screen.
Desmond is deluded. She is much older now and the silent movie industry is long gone. Gillis exploits this to his advantage though and moves in to her mansion and her heart. She is in love with him and when she feels him slipping away then she tries to take her life.
Norma Desmond is much older than Joe and she has matured a lot since her screen debut and Hollywood is not kind to old stars. The film company has little interest in starting Desmond's career through the offered screenplay and this does little to propel Joe into the spotlight either.
Joe is writing another script with another actress and he develops an attraction to her. He tells Norma that he is leaving and she prevents this by firing a single shot and killing him dead in her swimming pool.
The famous line arrives at the end with Desmond weaving down the steps and saying; "I'm ready for my close up" sealing her fate and showing how mentally unstable she has become.
This is a tragic movie and reveals the inner darkness and corruption in the film industry. People become dispensable commodities and the film is testament to an actress with a mental illness who cannot accept that her youth and beauty are behind her.
The character of Norma is treated with pity and pathos and although she does ultimately murder Joe, she is shown to be a product of the industry that she inhabits. An industry that eats her up and spits her out.
The servants she has treat her gently and pander to her need to look youthful. In this day and age of botox and plastic surgery the film is an uncomfortable reminder that there are some things that can't be bought.
Ultimately our sympathies lie with Desmond. All her possessions and material wealth can not help her instability and refusal to accept growing old gracefully. Her heartbreak and fear that she has lost her last chance at love lead her to commit the tragic acts that ensue.
Joe, her lover's untimely death, is sad and wasteful, but he represents the exploitative force behind Desmond's demise.
It was directed by Billy Wilder who made many other classic movies and its name provides the basis for its setting. The title is the famous Boulevard in Los Angeles and the playground of the rich and famous movie stars.
Leading actor William Holden plays the hack movie writer and Gloria Swanson stars as Norma Desmond, the aging actress that refuses to give up right until the fatal end.
Holden's character, Joe Gillis is a young writer and when we first meet him he is virtually bankrupt. His car is getting towed away and everyone is hankering after him for debts they want to collect. His encounter with Desmond gives him financial options as she ask him to write a screenplay that will return her to the screen.
Desmond is deluded. She is much older now and the silent movie industry is long gone. Gillis exploits this to his advantage though and moves in to her mansion and her heart. She is in love with him and when she feels him slipping away then she tries to take her life.
Norma Desmond is much older than Joe and she has matured a lot since her screen debut and Hollywood is not kind to old stars. The film company has little interest in starting Desmond's career through the offered screenplay and this does little to propel Joe into the spotlight either.
Joe is writing another script with another actress and he develops an attraction to her. He tells Norma that he is leaving and she prevents this by firing a single shot and killing him dead in her swimming pool.
The famous line arrives at the end with Desmond weaving down the steps and saying; "I'm ready for my close up" sealing her fate and showing how mentally unstable she has become.
This is a tragic movie and reveals the inner darkness and corruption in the film industry. People become dispensable commodities and the film is testament to an actress with a mental illness who cannot accept that her youth and beauty are behind her.
The character of Norma is treated with pity and pathos and although she does ultimately murder Joe, she is shown to be a product of the industry that she inhabits. An industry that eats her up and spits her out.
The servants she has treat her gently and pander to her need to look youthful. In this day and age of botox and plastic surgery the film is an uncomfortable reminder that there are some things that can't be bought.
Ultimately our sympathies lie with Desmond. All her possessions and material wealth can not help her instability and refusal to accept growing old gracefully. Her heartbreak and fear that she has lost her last chance at love lead her to commit the tragic acts that ensue.
Joe, her lover's untimely death, is sad and wasteful, but he represents the exploitative force behind Desmond's demise.
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