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{{work|wppage=Sunset Boulevard (film)}}
[[File:Sunset_Boulevard_Poster.jpg|frame]]
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[[Billy Wilder]]'s classic [[Film Noir]] from 1950, ''Sunset Boulevard'' is a dark take on the film industry and the fleeting nature of fame, to this day one of Hollywood's most scorching (and yet wistful) [[Horrible Hollywood|depictions of itself]], and indeed one of the greatest films of all time. (In 1998, the
In 1993, it was [[Sunset Boulevard (musical)|adapted]] into [[The Musical|a musical]] by [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]. The Broadway premiere starred [[Glenn Close]], and
{{tropelist}}
▲In 1993, it was adapted into [[The Musical|a musical]] by [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]. The Broadway premiere starred [[Glenn Close]], and The 1996 Australian premiere in Melbourne showcased a relative unknown named [[Hugh Jackman]], who played Joe Gillis opposite Debra Byrne as Norma Desmond, who, at the time, was ironically Australia's own [[White Dwarf Starlet]]. It won the 1995 Tony Award for Best Musical, in a year in which [[Damned By Faint Praise|only one other show was even nominated]].
▲* [[All Take and No Give]]: Gillis takes because Norma gives and ''gives.''
* [[As Himself]]: [[Cecil B. DeMille]] and Hedda Hopper play themselves. Norma's bridge partners, whom Joe dubs "The Waxworks," are also played by once-famous silent film stars (such as [[Buster Keaton]]) who are credited as themselves.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: Yes. {{spoiler|Joe is dead and Norma shot him, but Norma's complete break with reality lets her think she's finally making her comeback.}}
* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: Norma Desmond's final speech puts a jarring little crack - indicting both Hollywood and moviegoers for her fate - in that fourth wall. See [[Freak-Out]] below.
* [[The Chessmaster]]: Joe thinks he's this. Boy, is he wrong.▼
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: In this case, {{spoiler|Norma's}} gun.
** Also the pool.
** To a lesser extent, the ostentatious car.
▲* [[The Chessmaster]]: Joe thinks he's this. Boy, is he wrong.
* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]: Norma -- suffocatingly so -- due in part to her melodramatic star persona.
* [[Cool Car]]: Norma's customized 1929 Isotta-Fraschini 8A landaulet. [[Reality Subtext|One of Gloria Swanson's own cars.]]
* [[Crapsack World]]: For much of the picture, Joe sees the world this way.
* [[Dead All Along]]: One of the more famous examples of the trope and pretty much [[It Was His Sled|spoiled ever since]] due to how frequently it's referenced or parodied.▼
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Joe Gillis.
▲* [[Dead All Along]]: One of the more famous examples of the trope and pretty much [[It Was His Sled|spoiled ever since]] due to how frequently it's referenced or parodied.
* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Norma is an especially [[Yandere|unsettling]] one.
* [[Deliberately Monochrome]]: The film is in black and white, which wasn't by any means unusual in 1950 but wasn't strictly necessary either.
* [[Destructive Romance]]: And OH, how dysfunctional, with Norma's outbursts and Joe's passive aggressive BS.
* [[Disco Dan]]: Norma is stuck in the 1920s.
* [[Everything's Better with Monkeys]]: {{spoiler|[[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] with Norma's dead pet chimp}}.
* [[Executive Meddling]]: In-universe example, when Joe talks about his screenplays: "The last one I wrote was about Okies in the Dust Bowl. You'd never know because, when it reached the screen, the whole thing played on a torpedo boat."
* [[Freak-Out]]: Norma has one by the end, where she believes that the news cameras come to report on the murder are film cameras for the filming of her next movie, and [http://youtu.be/SA9lFsiut2Q addresses the camera with a speech], which ends famously:
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* [[Gallows Humor]]
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: It's strongly implied, and among the production crew outright stated, that Norma has been using her pet monkey as a surrogate lover.
** Which means that [[Fridge Logic|the unfortunate Joe caught her on the rebound]].
** The nature of the relationship between Joe and Norma was also unmentionable in the [[Hays Code]] era.
*** Though Joe does everything but
* [[Glory Days]]: Norma Desmond's are well over.
{{quote|
'''Norma''': I ''am'' big. It's the pictures that got small.
* [[Grand Staircase Entrance]]: Norma invokes this trope when she meets what she thinks is a [[Media Scrum]] covering her big comeback.
* [[Green-Eyed Monster]]
* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]
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* [[Happy Place]]: By the end of the movie, {{spoiler|Norma's gone there, and she's not coming back}}.
* [[Hello, Nurse!]]: Norma, at least in her own head. She's a movie star, after all.
* [[Horrible Hollywood]]: Subverted, surprisingly enough. We do see decent people working in the film industry, and even DeMille [[As Himself]] defends [[The Woobie|Norma]] and what happened to her career. It's just all that fame and celebrity creating a "world of illusion", and that Hollywood is still a place of business where people get chewed up and spat out...
** Certain producers - notably Louis Mayer of MGM - weren't thrilled when the movie was made, worrying it would belittle Hollywood and insult film-makers.
* [[How We Got Here]]: With an epilogue as well.
* [[If I Can't Have You]]:
* [[I Never Got Any Letters]]: Inverted.
* [[The Ingenue]]: Betty exemplifies the trope (without being cloying). Norma used to and, tragically, still thinks she does.
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* [[It's All About Me]]: Norma lives her entire life like this.
* [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy]]: Cruelly subverted with Joe and Betty.
**
** Also, this is Max towards Norma.
* [[Large Ham]]: Gloria Swanson as Norma, because that's how Norma behaves.
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* [[Posthumous Narration]]: One of the most famous examples.
* [[Pretty in Mink]]: Several furs Norma wears, although in the style of 1920s clothes, like most of her wardrobe.
* [[Red Herring]]: {{spoiler|Max, being Norma's "discoverer,"
▲* [[Red Herring]]: {{spoiler|Max, being Norma's "discoverer," principle director, and pathetically devoted first husband}}, would seem to have more than ample motivation to kill {{spoiler|Joe}}. It turns out that {{spoiler|Norma does it herself}}.
* [[Rule of Pool]]
* [[Scenery Porn]]: The whole film is exquisitely shot, often on vast and intricate sets.
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* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]: It's [[Billy Wilder]], so, cynicism.
* [[Sugar and Ice Personality]]: Max is a rather bizarre (and creepy) example.
* [[Title Drop]]: The very first line: "Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California." Interestingly, there is no actual title card, and the first shot simply shows a street marker, so it's still debatable whether the title proper should be ''Sunset Boulevard'' or ''Sunset Blvd
▲* [[Title Drop]]: The very first line: "Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California." Interestingly, there is no actual title card, and the first shot simply shows a street marker, so it's still debatable whether the title proper should be ''Sunset Boulevard'' or ''Sunset Blvd.''
* [[True Companions]]: Evidently how Max tries to view things. Subverted first by Joe (who just wants to get paid and leave) and [[It Was His Sled|then brutally by Norma]].
* [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]]: Norma Desmond's backstory is essentially the same as Gloria Swanson's, playing her. Her life after films turn to sound, not so much.
** Except Swanson's life never turned out like Norma's. When she was offered the role, she had already successfully put that part of her life behind her. However, she did know peers who were very much like the character, which was why she was reluctant to accept. She didn't want audiences to mistake the story for hers. Swanson thought she had made a comeback, only to learn she had been typecast.
* [[Western Zodiac]]: Norma mentions that she is a Scorpio. Given that sign’s general use in fiction, it probably explains a lot about her.
* [[White Dwarf Starlet]]: Norma Desmond is probably [[Trope Codifier|the ultimate example]]. She also supplies the page image.
* [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]]: Betty. Also her fiance.
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** This is highlighted in the musical, where he even gets a song about it.
* [[Yandere]]: Norma. Full stop.
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'''Norma''': ''What you're trying to say is that you don't want me to love you. Is that it?!''
''(She slaps him and runs upstairs.)''
** Then, later that evening,
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Sunset Boulevard]]▼
[[Category:Films of the 1950s]]▼
[[Category:Academy Award]]
[[Category:Roger Ebert Great Movies List]]
[[Category:National Film Registry]]
[[Category:Danny Peary Cult Movies List]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Films of the 1950s]]
▲[[Category:Sunset Boulevard]]
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