‘Funny how gentle people get with you once you’re dead…’
Despite my constant quest to explore all areas of the cinematic landscape, there will always be gaps. As recently as six months ago, I had never seen a single Billy Wilder film despite him being one of the most celebrated directors of all time. I have gone some way to correcting this now, first with Some Like It Hot and now with Sunset Boulevard, and it is safe to say that Wilder and his output deserves to be celebrated…
Joe Gillis (William Holden) is a washed up Hollywood screenwriter who finds salvation when he chances upon ageing starlet Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) who Gillis manipulates by feeding her growing delusion that she is still a big star. Her mysterious servant Max (Erich von Stroheim) plays along until Norma begins to retreat further into her fantasy world. Meanwhile, Gillis is moonlighting on a writing project with Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson) – a studio ‘reader’ who has a hand in developing scripts.
Wilder does a masterful job in spinning various plates but then succeeding in having them all crash down together in a way that is truly spectacular. The breathless third act builds into a crescendo of passion, deceit and madness. It is Swanson who takes all the limelight here (ironically) but the supporting cast more than hold their own with Holden and Olson sharing an authentic chemistry and von Stroheim magnificent in a role that is both enigmatic and elusive.
Billy Wilder is not quite spoken about in the same terms as Hitchcock or Kubrick, but there is no doubting that he should be. Whilst Hollywood does love a film about itself, Sunset Boulevard is deserving of its reputation as a true classic of what was a golden era for American film noir. The famous final shot of Norma Desmond moving closer to the camera as her eyes grow ever more world is as iconic as anything from this period of cinema. A true classic.