“All Right, Mr. Demille. I’m Ready For My Closeup”: Sunset Boulevard

Shafrarisi Bonner

HONR 101C Noir Film & Novel

November, 17 2017

Michael Sinowitz

“All Right, Mr. Demille. I’m Ready For My Closeup”: Sunset Boulevard

Billy Wilder’s 1950 film, Sunset Boulevard, was absolutely captivating, thrilling, and extremely complex from other film noirs that we have studied so far. Wilder’s style does a great job at showcasing the eerie mist of Hollywood in a classical noir way, reminding me of the popular noir films I have grown to love. Sunset Boulevard was very intriguing because of how the film was able to display the hidden and abandoned 1920s glamour whilst still being in the 1950s. I found it quite amazing that the main character, Joe Gillis, is bouncing back and forth between past, a dream life, and reality (future). It reminded me of my uncles who are forever devote to disco music and swears that it is realer than the new songs on the radio. They’re the Norma Desmond’s of my life, folks who’re stuck in the prime times of their life. For my uncle’s it is 1970, but for Norma Desmond it is 1920s- the height of the silent film age. I found that the film, Sunset Boulevard, evoked feelings of nostalgia and proved itself to be a contemporary piece.

Many of you may be wondering who Norma Desmond is, and her significance to the film. She was a famous silent movie star of the 1920s, who I believe lives in a former shell of her past life. You see, Hollywood is known for its glamour and being the ‘land of the stars’, however once the light from the stage turns off there is no turning it back on. Joe Gillis, like Norma Desmond, has tasted it briefly. It seemed as if he was a man who was at the center of it all, a screenwriter living in a huge bustling city with connections to various studios and writers. His grit and ambition, despite not being able to make ends meet, makes him resourceful and in a way convincing. However, I think that it made Sunset Boulevard a real and riveting tale. It showed the story of individuals who are persistent to live out their dream, something everyone can relate to.  Gillis’s story reminded me of the measures people are willing to go through to shine.

 We are first introduced to a middle age man, around his late twenties, floating in a medium sized swimming pool. Behind him are dozens of cameras, lots of blood, police men, and caution tape. “The poor dope, he always wanted a pool. Well, in the end he got himself a pool, only the price turned out to be a little too high”, says the narrator. Taking in the scene through my laptop, I wondered what could this man possibly do to end up dead in a chlorine filled pool. However, I wasn’t aware until he said “I” when I realized that the man narrating was the one who was killed. Not everyday you hear the narration of  a “dead” man, which makes Sunset Boulevard something refreshing, not practical, and thrilling. This impending sense of doom and dysfunctionality is something present in many noirs, and it helps to unravel so much mystery. As Gillis tells his story, I couldn’t help but feel empathy towards his character.

Gillis is a character who has no luck whatsoever. Some undercover gentlemen arrive at his apartment, ready to confiscate his car. Mr. Gillis has failed to pay his monthly fees and could no longer afford the luxury of his car. However, his ambition drives him to still search for more opportunities, causing him to lie to the police. Gillis tells them “Why don’t you search the garage”, knowing that he had his vehicle parked in the lot two streets down. As he escapes in his car, he is shortly found by the two gentlemen and is chased all over Hollywood. It is this event that leads him to be introduced to Norma Desmond.

During his chase, Gillis finds an abandoned house to which he uses to hide his car from the feds. Most times in movies, when a house is abandoned, it is clearly abandoned. However, this was unlikely, it was the home of a what used to be a celebrity. I found this super interesting and quiet refreshing. In Sunset Boulevard, Wilder provides a different take on noir, bringing nostalgia to those who love the genre deeply. I find it to be a film with a lot of similarities to  a contemporary piece. It  fuses together pieces of the past with the present. Not only does Norma Desmond’s home exemplify the lavish times of the roaring twenties, but also the woman who plays Norma Desmond has a past similar to the character’s. Norma Desmond is played by Gloria Swanson, a former silent movie star as well. Billy Wilder uses this technique quite frequently in the film, painting a realm of fiction in little bits of reality.

Norma Desmond draws Gillis into her home, offering him something he has wanted the most, the chance to do what he loves as well as get handsomely paid for it as well. During his time with Norma Desmond, I noticed how the rain grew heavy, the wind soared, and the night was darker and colder than ever shown before. It was like Joe Gillis entered the twilight zone, immediately alerting me of the “impending doom” that was arriving. Things began to slowly progress. First, Gillis was bombarded with the script for Norma’s new project, Salomé. I could tell that Norma’s plan was to keep Gillis trapped within her estate. She managed to do this perfectly, luring Gillis further in with the large amounts of money and shopping trips she gave him. “What right do you have to take me for granted”, says Gillis as he gained the courage to leave. That was interesting. Throughout film noir, the male leads held so much dominance. They were never in need of anything. They were naturally cool, excelled without hard work, and never trusted the women around them. However, Sunset Boulevard was different.

In a sense it gave me joy that a woman actually held the cards. Norma had Gillis in the palm of her hand and provided in their relationship. Most times in film, it's common to see the woman as the dependent or housewife. Sunset Boulevard  gave me a break from that and it also gave me a break from the cliches in film. It definitely gave so many  moments, as I discovered that Norma Desmond was living in a world that she designed in her head. Not only did Norma live and strongly standby her delusions, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small”, her butler Max played a part as well. He sent her hundreds of fan letters and aided her every need, including stardom. Max turned out to be Norma’s first husband and the help, something inconceivable. Not only was Max her husband, but he was a promising director both in the film and in reality. I find the mystery, suspense, and creativity was what made Sunset Boulevard a real sensation.

As I think about the film noirs we have examined in class, Sunset Boulevard beats them by a landslide. Billy Wilder was able to do something creative with the films, morphing realities of the past with those of the present. It created nostalgia, a different spin of noir, proving itself to be a contemporary piece in a way. Wilder was able to master this and brought to light the struggle that individuals face at one point in their life. Constantly, we avoid doing things that we have passion for and love due to the fact that we possibly will not be financially stable. The story  of Joe Gillis, shows the ambition of a man who wanted to chase his dreams of being a successful writer. However, such ambition when combined with greed and love, I have learned can bring death.