Noir November: Sunset Boulevard
Written by Cameron Geiser
Every day for the month of November, Cameron Geiser is reviewing a noir film (classic or neo) for Noir November. Today covers Billy Wilder’s genre bending masterpiece Sunset Boulevard.
Some films are timeless, and this is one of them. Ironically, this film is about the passage of time, but more specifically it's about Hollywood and the end of the silent era films and the actors that starred in them. As the film opens with Joe Gillis (William Holden) dead in a pool, we understand that the following story will be a tragedy, but in more ways than you might think. Joe’s our narrator and he rewinds the clock back for us as we see him a mere six months earlier as he gets into the why and how of it all. Joe had been a young screenwriter trying to make it in Hollywood, but it'd been a lean year for him and he'd just been trying to keep his car from being repossessed. After losing a tail off of Sunset Boulevard Joe pulled into a driveway and hid his car in what looked like an abandoned garage, but with a mansion attached. He just so happened to find himself on the property of Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), famous movie star from the 1920's. Upon entering the derelict mansion Joe spots Norma at the top of the foyer staircase and recognizes her. “You were Big.” he notes with a smile and a pointed finger, but Norma doesn't miss a beat and responds with, “I am big. It's the pictures that got small.”
As it turns out Norma is in need of a screenwriter, she's preparing for her Hollywood comeback after all. She essentially hires him on the spot as a live-in writer, Joe needed the money and a place to stay anyways, so he acquiesced to Norma. Max Von Mayerling (Erich von Stroheim), Norma's Butler, is quick to move Joe into “The former Husband's room”, with all of the assumptions and complications that come with that. Especially so on repeat viewings! Initially Joe feels pity for Norma, “still proudly waving to a parade which has long since passed her by” and while he's right in that she's definitely deluded about the scale of her fame, to her credit she still causes a stir on the soundstage when the crew recognize her while visiting filmmaker Cecil B DeMille later in the film. As the scripting process goes on, Joe and Norma ostensibly become lovers as she lavishes him in gifts that he feels guilt over- but he takes them anyways. After some time Joe begins sneaking out, wanting to break free without risking the wrath of the mentally unstable Norma, and he meets Betty (Nancy Olson). She's a script reader that wants to transition to writing screenplays instead of just reading them all the time, and soon their meeting nightly to work said script. However, when Norma discovers this heresy, she goes over the edge and shoots Joe dead, right into the pool where we found him.
Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.
While the film does take liberties with cinema history specifics at times, there's a surprising amount of truth amid the dark comedy of the film. The character of Desmond does borrow some biographical details from Swanson. She did work with director Cecil B DeMille and Erich von Stroheim in the silent era, when Norma was showing her films to Joe, its Queen Kelly pictured, a film Swanson actually made with Von Stroheim in 1928. The whole film is littered with whip smart references and nods to silent era films and stars. I almost fell out of my seat when Buster Keaton appeared as “One of the waxworks” that Norma plays Bridge with. One of the more perfect distillations of the film comes when Norma's on the film set waiting for DeMille and her feathered hat is brushed by a lowering microphone and the sneer she gives it as she pushes it away is pure brilliance. This is but one example of a litany of smaller details that Wilder and crew put into this film that all hit on the same point. Time passes whether you like it or not. Don't wait forever to see this one like I did, it's the best Noir film dealing with the intricacies of Hollywood!
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.