Sunset Boulevard

Holy moly! What a movie. I admit it is a slow starter, but once you get done, you will now be a fan of the film and Gloria Swanson. This is classic film noir piece by which all are judged by. Even if you've never watched another film noir piece in your life, this is one of those icons that you will recognize by the mere fact it is the base that all parodies such as bugs bunny cartoons are created off. I love the fact that Gloria Swanson is playing a figure so much like her real life and that the dramatic lighting angles (the projection light on her face, the studio lights on set at Paramount, and the mirror reflection in the final scene--to name a few) all focus on her. That, coupled with her over the top acting show that she truly does blend film life with real life. I think the best scene in the whole film is when she is melodramatically begging William Holden's character not to leave her while he cynically brushes her aside--as though even in this significant moment in her own life she still cannot drag herself out of her film-fantasy daydream. The last scene in particular is a scathing indictment of Hollywood and the masses, who allow a member of their own, to lead themselves to their ruin, solely for the sake of their own perverse enjoyment. It is the fans who created Norma Desmond, and in abandoning her, force her into this sad fantasy. Extra kudos to Billy Wilder for creating an engaging story, despite the fact the audience knows how the story ends--in the first scene we see Joe Gillis dead body in the pool, so we know he must die, yet Wilder still is able to create suspense surrounding what is going to happen to William Holden all they way up to Gloria Swanson physically pulling the trigger.

Needless to say, one of my new favorites.