Sunset Boulevard

On Sunset Boulevard, police cars are lining up around a huge mansion. The lifeless body of Joe Gillis is floating in the swimming pool while cameramen take picture after picture. To explain, Joe narrates the story that lead him dead in the pool of Norma Desmond. Unable to pay his bills, Joe hides his car because it was about to be repossessed. He’s a hardworking screenwriter in Los Angeles that can’t catch a break. As his last try, he sets a meeting with a producer but is declined. Betty Schaefer explains that it just was not good. Joe tries to borrow money from friends, but the sum isn’t enough for him to stay in LA. While driving in defeat, the company cars chase him, and he swerves into the driveway of a celebrity mansion. He is mistaken for an undertaker for a recently deceased chimp in Norma Desmond’s house and meets her. Max, her butler, protects the fact that the forgotten silent film star is aging. Norma hasn’t been in a movie in so long, and she is writing a script, so she is the lead. When she hears that Joe is a writer, she invites him to stay in her house and read her script. It’s absolutely terrible, but Joe convinces Norma to hire him to help her. While living in her house, Max moves Joe’s belongings to the bedroom of Norma’s last husband. Joe is dependent on her as she buys him expensive clothes and pays his rent. Over time, he realizes that Norma is stuck in her own bubble. She does not realize her declined fame and does not want any negative comments about her script. Even the fan mail she receives is written by Max himself to let Norma live in her own fantasy. Due to her attempts at suicide, there are no locks on any of the doors in the house. When Norma throws a New Year’s Party, it is only her and Joe. Finally, he realizes that she has fallen in love with him and he bolts into the rain. Joe ends up at Artie’s house where a fun and youthful party is being held. He meets Betty Schaefer again and she is introduced as his best friend’s girlfriend. Joe and Betty talk about Joe’s scripts and decide to start one themselves. During a phone call with Max, he is told that Norma has attempted suicide with his razor. Joe returns to the mansion and apologizes to Norma, agreeing to stay with her. Once the tragic script is complete, Norma sends it to Cecil B. DeMille and expects the director himself to call her. Max eventually drives Norma and Joe to Paramount Pictures where Norma meets Mr. DeMille again. While she is meeting with him, Joe and Max learn that the other calls from Paramount where for Norma’s car, not her. Then, Max tells Joe that he was Norma’s first husband. Still oblivious to what is happening, Norma gets numerous beauty treatments to prepare for her role in her movie. Joe sneaks out at night to meet up with Betty Schaefer and finish their screenplay. Betty falls in love with him and Norma finds the script they’re working on. She calls Betty and starts to tell her Joe’s life now. Joe steals the phone and tells Betty to come to Norma’s mansion. When she arrives, Joe pretends to love his horrible life with Norma to make her marry Artie. She leaves the mansion as Joe is packing up his belongings. Norma pleads and begs him to stay, threatening to attempt suicide again. In pure rage, Joe tells her the truth about her being forgotten. While in her hallucination, she convinces herself that a star is never left by anyone and she shoots Joe several times. Finally, his body floats in the pool, where the movie started. When the news cameras come, Norma pretends to be shooting her movie and steps down her staircase. She says how grateful she is to be making a film and says, “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.”

William Holden as Joe Gillis

Joe Gillis is an unemployed screenwriter, trying to make it big in sunny Los Angeles, California. He’s broke and his car is about to be repossessed due to unpaid bills. He thinks highly of his work and becomes impolite when Betty Schaefer gives him harsh feedback on his script. Joe ends up living in Norma Desmond’s house and finally has a comfortable life with no worries of money. He accepts the ravish gifts she presents to him and does not think of her romantically. However, when Norma attempts to commit suicide because he doesn’t love her, Joe pities her and ends up staying with her in her lonely mansion. In order to let Betty choose the right man (her fiancée), Joe invites her to the house and pretends to love his easy life with Norma. Finally, Joe is sick of this life and packs his bags to return to Ohio. He tells her the truth about her fame and is shot by Norma into the pool. He dies an unfulfilled man.

Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond

Norma Desmond is mentally unstable. She believes that no one has forgotten her from her silent film days because Max the butler, her former first husband, secretly writes fake fan letters addressed to her to keep her happy. She does not accept the fact that she is aging and is extremely self-centered. When she discovers Joe and Bettys’ script, she becomes jealous and calls Betty to inform her that Joe is in love with her, not Betty. Norma falls in love with Joe and is very possessive and controlling towards him. When he decides to leave her, she convinces herself that she is a “star” and “no one ever leaves a star”. She shoots him multiple times because that is the only way she can stop him from leaving her. When the cameras for the news come to her house, she hallucinates and believes that they are cameras for her movie. Max devastatingly pretends to be the director and she walks down the stairs with everyone staring at her. She is overjoyed being back on set and says, “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.”