History Film / SunsetBoulevard

* HollywoodPersonalityDisorders: Norma Desmond has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. She didn't take her descent from superstardom well. She hired a former director as a butler and reads fake fan mail. Eventually she goes completely delusional when she can't accept that the world doesn't revolve around her.

* InformalEulogy: In "The Final Scene", [[spoiler:Norma has one in the form of an a capella rendition of the "Surrender" reprise, conflating her situation with Salome's when she sings about how she killed Joe.]]

Meanwhile, in secret, Joe has been working with Betty (Nancy Olson), an attractive young female screenwriter, on another script -- a script Joe sees as his redemption in more ways than one. Max, who has a few secrets of his own, appears increasingly annoyed at the attention Norma lavishes on Joe, and at Joe's dismissive attitude toward it. After a failed suicide attempt by Norma on finding out about the Other Woman, things come to a head, leading to a shocking conclusion which is also the [[HowWeGotHere film's opening]].

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** It's strongly implied, and among the production crew outright stated, that Norma has been using her pet monkey as a [[BestialityIsDepraved surrogate lover]]. Which means that the unfortunate Joe caught her on the rebound.
** The nature of the relationship between Joe and Norma was also unmentionable in UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode era, though Joe does everything but spell it out for the audience: "Very simple set-up. Older woman who's well to do. A younger man who's not doing too well. Can you figure it out for yourself?"
** The salesman's line, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw9Ski5DJMA As long as the lady's paying for it, why not pick the vicuna?]]" underlines that Joe is, in fact, Norma's gigolo. There's also the pool scene. Joe is wearing nothing but trunks while Norma massages his shoulders, in a very IHaveYouNowMyPretty moment.

* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: Joe does this to Betty. Though they've fallen in love, Joe realizes that he can't provide Betty with the kind of life she deserves. There's also the fact that Joe's in a complicated relationship with the mentally unstable Norma Desmond, who's obsessed with him and could potentially become violent (and she later does, killing him). Joe acts like a {{Jerkass}} to Betty so she'll leave him and follow through with her original plan to marry her fiancé Artie.

** She employs a butler who was once a famous, now forgotten, silent film director. This part is played by the once famous, then forgotten silent film director Erich von Stroheim.

** Joe keeps feeding Norma's ego to make her feel better. [[spoiler: Turns out Max has been doing the same thing for years]].

* GermanicDepressives: Erich von Stroheim uses his natural Austrian accent when playing Max, and boy does Max have a lot to be depressed about.

* IronicEcho: Max [[spoiler:was Norma's first director. When it's revealed Norma will come down for her arrest if she thinks they're filming her movie, Max rushes to the news cameras and begins lining them up like an old pro, getting ready to direct Norma one last time.]]

** Near the end of the theatrical version, as Norma becomes emotionally overwhelmed by the stunned crowds after her staircase descent while the music plays, she seems to have control of that music, [[BreakingTheFourthWall commanding the orchestra to stop playing for a moment]], just so that she can [[TalkingIsAFreeAction say the lines of her final speech from the film]], word for word, as she is talking to [=DeMille=].

Some months earlier, Joe blindly fleeing his creditors, winds up in what appears to be an abandoned mansion, only to find that silent movie great Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) still lives there with her Austrian manservant, Max von Mayerling (Creator/ErichVonStroheim). The delusional Norma believes that her adoring fans still desperately want her to return to the screen, more than two decades after the advent of "talkies" rendered her and every other silent-film star on the block obsolete. Once Norma learns that Joe is a screenwriter, she offers him room, board and refuge from his creditors...in exchange for his help in revising the truly hopeless screenplay she's been writing for twenty years to prepare for her [[strike:comeback]] [[InsistentTerminology return.]]

* DarkReprise: At the end, after finally getting her audience, her cameras and the attention she so desperately craved, Norma belts out a powerful reprise of "With One Look," only the extremely dark and creepy orchestrations remind us what is really going on; [[spoiler: she just killed a man, went insane and is being taken away by the police as the newsreel cameras record her final descent and humiliation.]]

In 1993, it was adapted into [[TheMusical a musical]] by Creator/AndrewLloydWebber. The Broadway premiere starred Creator/GlennClose, and The 1996 Australian premiere in Melbourne showcased a relative unknown named Creator/HughJackman, who played Joe Gillis opposite Debra Byrne as Norma Desmond, who, at the time, was ironically Australia's own WhiteDwarfStarlet. It won the 1995 Tony Award for Best Musical, in a year in which [[DamnedByFaintPraise only one other show was even nominated]]. The musical returned to Broadway in 2017, still starring Glenn Close. In 2019, it was announced that a film version of the musical —with Close once again reprising her role from the stage production— had entered development.

* ClingyJealousGirl: Norma. As Joe is walking out on her, she comments desperately, "No one leaves a star. That's what makes one a star." [[spoiler: Then she shoots him]].

* LoveDodecahedron: Joe loves Betty but has to pretend he loves Norma, who loves him. Betty also has a fiancee. [[spoiler: And then there's Max]].

* MetaCasting: Norma Desmond, a forgotten silent film star, was played by Gloria Swanson, a forgotten silent film star. Her butler, Max von Mayerling who used to be a leading silent film director is played by Creator/ErichVonStroheim, who used to be a leading silent film director. (Needless to say, Swanson took her fall from stardom with ''much'' more grace and sanity than Norma.)
** Also, Cecil B. [=DeMille=] plays himself, Hedda Hopper (a gossip columnist) plays herself, and the "Waxworks" (Norma's friends who are other forgotten silent film stars) are all played by...other forgotten silent film stars. (And Creator/BusterKeaton). In general, this film is regarded to be one of the biggest cases of MetaCasting in Hollywood.

* MisidentifiedWeapons: Norma claims to have a revolver but when we see said gun in question its actually a semi-automatic pistol.

* ObliviousMockery: Joe Gillis complains to the producer Sheldrake that Betty Shaefer, a script reader, would have turned down ''Film/GoneWithTheWind''; only for Sheldrake to reply "No. That was me".

* RedHerring: [[spoiler:Max seems to have motive and opportunity for the murder of Joe Gillis: he was Norma's discoverer and first husband, and is still slavishly loyal to her, trying to comfort her even as Joe wants to leave her, and he was outside with hi. However, it turns out that Max is actually polite and docile, and Norma shoots Joe herself]].

* WritersSuck: Joe sells out his talent more or less for a quick buck and a place to stay, eventually leading to [[spoiler:his death.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: All over the place. Joe's writing sessions with Betty are treated as this, both by him in sneaking out of the house, and by [[ClingyJealousGirl Norma]], even though he insists they are not. Then Betty falls in love with him, even though she is already engaged to another man. Just to make things even more complicated, Joe ''had'' been hitting on her from almost the moment they re-met each other [[spoiler: at the New Year's party]] (and yes, he did know she was engaged by that point).

Some months earlier, Joe blindly fleeing his creditors, winds up in what appears to be an abandoned mansion, only to find that silent movie great Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) still lives there with her Austrian manservant, Max von Mayerling (Creator/ErichVonStroheim). The delusional Norma believes that her adoring fans still desperately want her to return to the screen, more than two decades after the advent of "talkies" have obsoleted her and every other silent-film star on the block. Once Norma learns that Joe is a screenwriter, she offers him room, board and refuge from his creditors...in exchange for his help in revising the truly hopeless screenplay she's been writing for twenty years to prepare for her [[strike:comeback]] [[InsistentTerminology return.]]

** He tries doing this as he walks out on Norma, holing she'll wake up to the reality of her faded career. [[spoiler:It didn't end well.]]

* ForgedMessage: The fan letters that Norma had been getting over the years were actually [[spoiler: written by her butler Max to spare her from the fact that the public had forgotten her]].#

** The salesman's line, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw9Ski5DJMA As long as the lady's paying for it, why not pick the vicuna?]]" underlines the fact that Joe is, in fact, Norma's gigolo. There's also the pool scene. Joe is wearing nothing but trunks while Norma massages his shoulders, in a very IHaveYouNowMyPretty moment.

** The swimming pool. Tthe audience knows from the start that the victim is found dead in the swimming pool, and attention is drawn to the swimming pool throughout the film - the victim even goes so far as to obligingly turn on the pool lights, really to make his own death scene play better for the cameras! - and STILL it is a surprise ending...

* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Norma Desmond is probably [[TropeCodifier the ultimate example]]. Despite her advancing age and secluded existence, she still believes she's big enough to star in one more picture, with Creator/CecilB.DeMille to direct her. Includes a double helping of RealitySubtext, as Desmond was played by Gloria Swanson, who had been one of silent film's biggest stars but who never made the transition to "talkies". In a GeniusBonus, Desmond watches one of her old films, which is the Gloria Swanson movie ''Queen Kelly''. This was directed by Creator/ErichVonStroheim, a once-prominent director whose career behind the camera ended with the silent film era (though he maintained an acting career), who plays Max (who, it turns out, was also her first director...and her first husband). (Because ''Queen Kelly'' went grossly over budget, and was never completed, it effectively ended both Gloria Swanson's and Erich von Stroheim's careers in the silent movie business.) Interestingly, Swanson had to be made up as older than she looked to play a character who was younger than she was!

** "Surrender" wasn't exactly a happy song to begin with, but each time it's reprised it gets progressively darker: in the first reprise, DeMille sings sadly about Norma's faded glory; the second reprise occurs just after [[spoiler:Max has revealed to Joe that he and Norma were married and explains that he "will not allow [Norma] to surrender"]]; the third and final reprise is part of Norma's descent into insanity in which she conflates her situation with Salome's in terms of [[spoiler:murdering the man they love]].

* HelloNurse: Norma, at least in her own head. She's a movie star, after all.

* HorribleHollywood: One of the most famous examples in film. Norma is a narcissist who is full of herself, no thanks to her former glory as a famous SilentMovie actress while Joe is a hack writer who takes advantage of her. In addition, Hollywood press writers in need of money played a part in ruining Norma's career. That said, the film acknowledges that there are decent people working in the film industry, such as [=DeMille=], who defends [[TheWoobie Norma]] and explains that her downfall wasn't entirely her fault.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: Norma is the antagonist but she's a depressed recluse who wants to make a comeback in movies. Joe is the protagonist but he's a broke writer feeding Norma's ego just to secure his own comfort.

* HollywoodPersonalityDisorders: Norma Desmond has Narcissitic Personality Disorder. She didn't take her descent from superstardom well. She hired a former director as a butler and reads fake fan mail. Eventually she goes completely delusional when she can't accept that the world doesn't revolve around her.
* HorribleHollywood: Subverted, surprisingly enough. We do see decent people working in the film industry, and even [=DeMille=] AsHimself defends [[TheWoobie 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 spit out...

** It's strongly implied, and among the production crew outright stated, that Norma has been using her pet monkey as a [[BestialityIsDepraved surrogate lover]]. Which means that [[FridgeLogic the unfortunate Joe caught her on the rebound]].

* MisidentifiedWeapons: Norma claims to have a revolver but when we see said gun in question its actually a semi-automatic pistol. There is actually a lot of FridgeBrilliance to this. Someone of Norma's generation would have gown up in a world where revolvers where synonymous with any form of handgun. Someone working in the silent film era where no one needed to worry about semantics like "pistol" and "revolver" would also not need to know the difference. By the time the film takes place you could expect a gun owner to know the difference, but Norma likely bought her pistol years ago on a whim. In other words shes behind on her gun knowledge as she is everything else.