In a very wonderful way, “Sunset Boulevard” is also an unorthodox movie. The opening title card is a painted curb of the street the film takes its name from, despite the imagery of opulent houses and sunny L.A. outdoor shots, the musical introduction is ominous and gloomy. After the credits the film then employs a bizarre post-mortem voice-over which sets up a flashback narration (not unlike another Billy Wilder-directed film “Double Indemnity”). From the snide tone of the voiceover as well as the sarcastic comments, it is evident that the narrator referring to the dead man floating in a pool is himself, meaning that they have essentially spoiled the ending for us. It is a risky revelation but it works simply because of the absurd circumstances under which we get from point A to point B.
As the story progresses, the narrator confesses that he is the film’s principal character, Joe Gillis (William Holden) a self-professed B-movie writer. Joe spends the early scenes of the film eluding a pair of repo men who are after his car, a result of his lack of recent work. He eventually winds up at Paramount studios attempting to hock a terrible sounding baseball movie that is so bad it is even criticized by one of the young staff script readers Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson). After being practically laughed out of the Paramount offices and being turned down for a loan by his agent, Joe resigns himself to the possibility of returning home to Ohio to his newspaper job (the first of many references to the seductive nature of the illusion of Hollywood).
While contemplating his next move Joe sees the repo men at a red light- resulting in a low-speed chase through the residential neighborhoods just outside Hollywood. Joe finds a safe hideout in a seemingly abandoned mansion on 10086 Sunset Blvd. The house is actually a metaphor for old-Hollywood and specifically its owner Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), a long-forgotten actress from the silent film era. Both are shells of their former selves, both have faded in their outward appearance but continue to keep up a decadent front and both are tragically lonely and isolated- the house geographically, Norma mentally and emotionally. In many ways, the house is a character unto itself, hence the importance of the film’s title.
Norma’s creepy German valet Max (Erich Von Stroheim) mistakes Joe for the animal undertaker they are waiting on. From here on the film gets pretty weird and progressively gets even weirder. I feel like at this point it would be totally cliché to refer to Norma Desmond as “eccentric,” because she is more like batshit crazy and her elaborate funeral for a dead chimpanzee is merely the tip of the iceberg. Once Joe straightens out the case of mistaken identity and Norma discovers he is a screenwriter she reveals she still has use for him even though he isn’t the monkey mortician. In an effort to stage a delusional return to the screen, Norma has been working on a script to be built around her but needs a professional writer to help her finish the job. Her motives are quite transparent given the fact that she refuses to let Joe leave her home and even insists on moving him in with her- all of which he is basically forced into agreeing to given his circumstances.
Before long Norma has paid off Joe’s creditors (with the exception of the people repossessing his car- in fact it is implied that she tipped them off to its location so as to take away any means Joe has of leaving) and essentially becomes his benefactor. His immediate discomfort is evident, especially considering that everyone seems to think he is a male prostitute working for Norma- and she does nothing to dispel this suspicion. Perhaps the most compelling aspect of this movie’s storyline is the complexity of Norma’s character. Though she is a sociopath and a control freak, she is also a very sympathetic character given the obvious abundance of mental illnesses she suffers from. Her desperate fear of loneliness, severe insecurity, numerous suicide attempts, refusal to live in the present and fragile emotional state don’t excuse, but at least explain her insane behavior.
Another interesting element to the plot is that there is no clear-cut protagonist, at least not in the sense of a character who has more positive qualities than negative. Norma is manipulative and narcissistic, Joe uses Norma and continues to accept payment for working on her script despite his knowledge that it will fail and even begins a relationship with his only real friend’s fiancé, who happens to be Betty, the Paramount script reader from the beginning of the film, who would probably qualify as the “good” person in the scenario were it not for the fact that she pursues Joe aggressively while her fiancé is out of state for work. Additionally, she is also using Joe for his writing ability as the two are working on their own script separate from the one he is helping Norma with- meaning he is being exploited by both a poor young girl as well as a rich old woman because he allows himself to be.
“There is nothing tragic about being 50. Unless you’re trying to be 25!” (Joe Gillis, “Sunset Boulevard”)
The most amazing, surreal and artistic segment of the whole film comes when Norma makes her “triumphant” return to the Paramount Studios. Cecil B. DeMille plays himself in a cameo as the movie transitions into a quasi-documentary, showing the behind-the-scenes workings of a film set and art begins to oddly imitate life; DeMille is directing a film, a non-fictional studio is the set, Gloria Swanson, herself a huge actress from the silent era who was unable to transition with the advent of talkies reminiscing about the golden era of Hollywood. The movie-within-a-movie as well as the brilliant effects integrated by the presence of the motion picture equipment push the film’s creativity over the top. The metaphor of fame and the fickle nature of the public is illustrated when Norma sits in a director’s chair and the lighting tech shines a spotlight on her- causing all the actors and stagehands to flock to her, fawning about how it is “the great Norma Desmond.” However, once DeMille orders the crew back to work the spotlight moves off Norma and she is again abandoned by all the hangers-on. To add insult to injury, the reason DeMille’s people invited Norma to the studio was because they wanted to rent her car for a film and not because they are interested in her script like she thinks.
The inevitable crumbling of the primary characters’ lives is a monumental one. Norma discovers that Paramount has no interest in her script, the 17,000 fan letters a day she got are all sent by Max, who is revealed to be not only her manservant but her ex-husband and the director who discovered her, and that Joe is in love with Betty. Betty discovers that Joe has been living with Norma as a gigolo, mainly because Joe tells her in an effort to ensure she breaks up with him as he has decided she is too good for him and all the baggage he comes with. Joe, as we all know from the beginning, gets shot to death by Norma in a jealous rage.
When the police come to arrest Norma, her final delusion plays out. Given the gossip-value of the story of a B-movie screenwriter being murdered by a former A-lister in a creepy old mansion, the tabloid photographers and news stations all show up for the circus. Her fragile mental state, exacerbated by her nervous breakdown after killing Joe, leads her to believe that the cameras are there to film her big return to cinema. She eerily descends the stairs of her home to the waiting authorities and newsmen and utters the famous “Alright Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my closeup” line as the focus turns blurry, giving us a glimpse into the hazy, dreamlike state her life has descended into. In a very dark and tragic way, Norma has her “happy ending” as she is clearly not cognizant of what is actually happening and likely never will be. Ultimately though, the four most prominent characters all meet grim fates that have since come to be recognized as stereotypical worst-case scenarios of what happens to people who come to Hollywood with idealist dreams; Joe dies, Norma goes insane, Betty has her heart broken and Max has no identity of his own.
However, as cynical and jaded as the story is on the surface, in many ways “Sunset Boulevard” still glamorizes the Hollywood life. Despite their tragic fates, all the main characters touch their dream in some way or another and find varying levels of success. Also, a glimpse into the palatial interior of Norma’s home does nothing but encourage people to repeat the cycle and keep pursuing a career in the motion picture industry. And let’s face it, is a major motion picture released by a major studio REALLY going to bury the motion picture industry THAT severely? Come on now.
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