Reel Talk: Sunset Blvd

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." Haven't you always wondered where that iconic phrase came from? Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard is the answer to that question (remember it for a pub quiz), but it should be remembered for so much more than that. Aesthetically stunning with the help of classic film noir cinematography, Sunset Blvd tells the story of a faded silent film superstar who can't grasp the harsh realities of talkies and the world that comes with it.



While I do believe that the film relies an awful lot on the use of voice over which is never a good sign, the sheer acting capability of Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond is so captivating that you never want the film to end. This is an especially powerful statement considering how creepy this film is from the beginning. The film starts with the audience meeting Joe Gillis (William Holden) who is running from debt collectors as an out of work screenwriter in the tough world of Hollywood. Yes, I too thought that I saw where it was going and how boring it was going to be, but I was completely wrong. In his car chase and resulting flat tire, Gillis wanders into an old Hollywood estate up on Sunset which seems to be falling apart. Desmond mistakes him for another visitor she is expecting and brings him up to help pick out the specifics for a monkey coffin. I really wish that I could tell you that this was the weirdest that it gets...

What follows is almost two hours of a terrible man playing with the heart of an addled old woman who acts as the original cougar/sugar mama, while he basically does nothing with his life. To be fair without giving anything away, Norma Desmond's actions would make me want to cut and run as well. Beyond the central love and loss story of Desmond and Gillis, Sunset Blvd brilliantly shows the agonizing climb back to stardom that Norma Desmond so desperately desires through personal meetings with C.B. DeMille and a scary realistic montage of trying to maintain ageless beauty. In the end we watch all the pieces of both Gillis' and Desmond's lives fall apart with chills running up and down our spines.



While psycho-thrillers about fame and the mental price you pay for it continue to be churned out (a la Black Swan), I think that it is necessary that we look back and admire the original film about pathetic egos and horrifying actions; it absolutely holds up to this day.