Line #0 YMMV/SunsetBoulevard


1	!!The film provides examples of:
2	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Max's motivations are a bit more overtly ambiguous in the musical. In the film, when confronted by Joe about lying to Norma, he says "I cannot let her be destroyed". In the play, he says "I will not allow her to surrender". This hints that he's not merely feeding Norma flattering lies to keep her from breaking down, but maintaining his own vicarious fantasy through her.
3	* AwardSnub:
4	** Painfully. Creator/GloriaSwanson lost the Best Actress Oscar only because Creator/BetteDavis in ''Film/AllAboutEve'' was her main competitor. Swanson and Davis cancelled each other out (as both were playing over-the-hill, sharp-tongued actresses in films about the anxieties of aging and acting), leaving newcomer Creator/JudyHolliday winning for ''Theatre/BornYesterday''.
5	** In general, the film likely would've done much better at the Oscars had it not had the misfortune of being released in the same year as ''All About Eve'', which beat it for Best Picture, Director and Supporting Actor and may have caused split votes in other categories, as above. ''Sunset'' only beat ''Eve'' in technical categories, and both won separately for their screenplays (Best Original Screenplay for ''Sunset'', Best Adapted for ''Eve'').
6	* AwesomeEgo: Norma Desmond is this in spades. Creator/GloriaSwanson gives her character several memorable one-liners and an incredible performance. She even has a handful of fans who agree with some of her points. She's also one of the film's most popular characters.
7	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Franz Waxman's soundtrack is another masterpiece of his brilliant career, and earned him an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward.
8	* CommonKnowledge: Due to some LeaningOnTheFourthWall, it's sometimes assumed that Gloria Swanson just played herself on screen. Unlike Norma, Gloria was extremely active after leaving Hollywood; she moved to New York, starred in many stage productions, had her own television show and newsletter, and had additional careers as a clothing designer and political activist. She just played the part of Norma so well, people were convinced she couldn't have been acting.
9	* DracoInLeatherPants: Due to her status as a TragicVillain, Norma is often viewed far more sympathetically than intended. Sure she was forgotten by Hollywood once The Talkies came along, and she's being indulged by Max, but she still emotionally abuses Joe and murders him when he's finally had enough of her. Norma is a fascinating character, of course (with a strong dose of RealitySubtext) but she is first and foremost a villain. In fact, some of Norma's humanizing moments just make her look worse by today's standards - threatening suicide to prevent a partner from leaving is recognised as a major form of emotional abuse.
10	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
11	** Modern-day viewers tend to like Norma's butler Max, [[spoiler:who's also her first husband and a former director.]] They tend to feel bad for everything he's had to deal with during the movie's course and love him for his UndyingLoyalty to her. Plus there's a clever reference as how Max used to be a director. His actor, Creator/ErichVonStroheim, was actually a real world director as well.
12	** Betty's also fairly popular due to being one of the nicest characters in the film, and actually caring about creating films with a message rather than doing it for the fame. There's also her relationship with Joe.
13	* FountainOfMemes: Pretty much anything Norma says in the film has been made into a meme of some kind. Especially her most famous lines.
14	* HilariousInHindsight:
15	** Norma Desmond's idea for her comeback vehicle – a Biblical epic about Salome – is regarded as laughably ridiculous by Creator/CecilBDeMille and the other Hollywood types. However, not only was an actual mind-bogglingly awful ''{{Film/Salome\|1953}}'' film (starring Creator/RitaHayworth) produced in 1953, but numerous filmmakers throughout the rest of the '50s (including [=DeMille=] himself) would turn to Biblical epics as a way of competing with the television audience, and some of these efforts turned out to be every bit as schlocky as Norma's. Furthermore, [=DeMille=]'s current production when Norma pitches her script is ''Film/{{Samson and Delilah\|1949}}'', which was a critical and commercial success. Norma's script was bad, and she was out of touch with contemporary styles, but her selection of genre was appropriate, even a little ahead of it's time.
16	** Her declaration that the movies were dead, though based in the industry's abandonment of silent cinema, would indeed come to pass within a few years, as television ate away at film's dominance of American entertainment.
17	** Creator/BusterKeaton's appearance as one of the forgotten actors; now that he's arguably better-remembered than anyone else in the cast.
18	** Creator/WilliamHolden ending up essentially being Norma's kept man. Fast forward to ''Film/TheWorldOfSuzieWong'' where he once again nearly has a woman financially supporting him - this time an actual prostitute!
19	* HypeBacklash: While the film holds up very well from a technical point of view, it can sometimes be lost on modern viewers just how scandalous it was when it got released. The metatextual story showing a once great Silent Era star as a deranged recluse hit so close to home that Creator/MaryPickford couldn't show her face afterwards, and Louis B Mayer called the director a disgrace for portraying the industry this way. Mainstream audiences were certainly not used to such scathing HorribleHollywood depictions as today. The sexual tension between Norma and Joe was also very risqué for the time - particularly the pool scene where she ogles him in a swimsuit.
20	* ItWasHisSled:
21	** Norma shoots Joe out of jealously of his attempted departure. Of course, Joe's death does ''open'' the film but still...
22	** Norma becomes insane and assumes the people are filming a silent film.
23	* JerkassWoobie: Both Norma and Joe. Both are extremely selfish and highly manipulative people who are always using those around them and each other to get what they want. But at the same time, they both have very understandable motivations for why they behave that and both are, in a way, victims of the Hollywood system. In Joe's case, he's merely a [[StarvingArtist struggling screenwriter]] desperately trying to survive in the cutthroat and highly competitive world of film writing. While in Norma's case, she is desperate to return to the spotlight after her fall from relevancy thanks to talkies and the changing audience tastes and studio preferences that came with that.
24	* LGBTFanbase: Norma herself became something of a queer icon, because of the {{Camp}} associated with her.
25	* NightmareFuel: During Norma's final speech, she stated that her life was in a studio with just them, the cameras, and "those wonderful people out there in the dark". [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou It's possible Norma was referring to the actual audience watching the film]], and it might send a shiver down some viewers' heads. Yep, Creator/GloriaSwanson's [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct acting was that convincing]].
26	* RetroactiveRecognition:
27	** Betty's actress Nancy Olson would be best known as [[TheDanza ...Nancy]] in ''{{Film/Pollyanna}}''.
28	** Most would recognize Creator/JackWebb, who plays Artie Green, as Sgt. Joe Friday from ''Series/{{Dragnet}}''.
29	** A young Creator/JackWarden can be glimpsed as a guest at Artie's New Years party.
30	* [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct She Really Can Act]]: On paper, Creator/GloriaSwanson as the lead is a case of DancingBear. Seeing a silent era icon playing a character not too dissimilar to herself would've appealed to audiences at the time mainly for novelty value, and odds are they weren't expecting too much in the way of her performance. Instead, Swanson gave one of the most amazing performances in Hollywood history, making Norma chillingly believable.
31	* SignatureScene: The ending: Norma sees news crews in her house, convinces herself she's beginning her comeback, and announces "Alright, Mr [=DeMille=], I'm ready for my close-up." The quote is referenced so often even people who have never watched the film are aware of its existence.
32	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: If there is one flaw the movie has it is that very few of its characters are even remotely likeable (Max is probably the least objectionable character, and even then he's a hard luck case who's enabling Norma) and some of them just get worse as the film goes on. Though in the end this is pretty much unavoidable considering the whole theme is the [[HorribleHollywood dark side of Hollywood]] and those who don’t like the film will still often agree that this darkness is important to the message.
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34	!!The musical also provides examples of:
35	* HarsherInHindsight: The two Sydmonton workshops were both videotaped. The second one, featuring future West End Norma Creator/PattiLuPone, ends with her enthusiastically summoning Creator/AndrewLloydWebber onto the stage during the curtain call. The tape ends with a freeze frame of the two of them hugging, [=LuPone=] with tears in her eyes. This particular image is now chilling, considering Lloyd Webber would eventually fire her in favor of Creator/GlennClose.
36	* HilariousInHindsight: The amount of ''Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}'' alums in the German-language productions of ''Sunset Boulevard'', given that the former show also has a death connected to the name "Mayerling". Particularly amusing with two productions (Theater Dortmund in 2017 and Theater Bonn in 2018) that had [[StarringAStarAsAStar European musical theatre legend]] Pia Douwes as Norma and Oliver Arno (whose ''Elisabeth'' character Rudolf [[spoiler:died at the Mayerling hunting lodge]]. Rudolf's grandfather was named Max, whose daughter was Elisabeth, the role that made Douwes a star).
37	* MyRealDaddy: While Patti [=LuPone=] was first, and while other acclaimed actresses such as Creator/BettyBuckley and Petula Clark have played Norma, Glenn Close is the best known, even returning to the role in the 2017 Broadway revival.
38	* NightmareFuel: "The Phone Call" (from beginning to end), in which Norma's paranoia is growing more and more, as she makes a phone call to Betty while Joe overhears it and approaches her. After Joe tells Betty to come over and hangs up the phone, he becomes pissed at Norma, who begs him not to hate her... and this is just the tip of the iceberg for "The Final Scene"...
39	** Speaking of "The Final Scene", [[spoiler:when Norma fires the first gunshot at Joe, we hear a bit of his choking sound and some audible, painful gasps as he struggles to breathe... for a good ten seconds! This is followed by two more gunshots, and at the third gunshot... a few seconds of silence. It's truly painful to listen to, especially when you and Joe know he's about to die.]]
40	** Also, Creator/DiahannCarroll in the Toronto production did something different with her Norma in the Final Scene. Just as she finishes the last reprise of With One Look, Norma starts to return to reality and lets out a blood-curdling shriek as she tears at her headdress in aghast of what she has done. Just terrifying.
41	*** Some other productions have also presented Norma having the same realisation at the end.
42	* ToughActToFollow: Most productions of Sunset today have one big problem: John Napier's iconic set for Norma's house in the original productions has become as iconic as the actresses, so after the disastrous first US Tour, a new production with an easier set by Derek McLane paled in comparison and since then most big productions attempt to stay far away from the original as possible.
43	* OlderThanTheyThink: The current London production has Creator/NicoleScherzinger ending the show covered in blood, however, it was first done in a German Production[[note]] see here https://youtu.be/1CHvtW3V3js?si=AIDcHiSrWQLDEdGO&t=577[[/note]].
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Context YMMV / SunsetBoulevard