History Film / SunsetBoulevard

A classic 1950 FilmNoir directed by Creator/BillyWilder, ''Sunset Boulevard'' is a dark meditation on the film industry and the fleeting nature of fame, and to this day one of Hollywood's most scorching (yet wistful) [[HorribleHollywood depictions of itself]]. While the characters are deeply flawed, in some cases [[MoralEventHorizon beyond any redemption]], the film still manages to present them all as complex, sympathetic, and even endearing. It is generally regarded as one of the best films of all time.

** 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.

--> '''Joe:''' Sometimes as we watched, she'd clutch my arm or my hand, forgetting she was my employer, becoming just a fan, excited about that actress up there she saw on the screen… I guess I don't have to tell you who the star was. They were always her pictures—that's all she wanted to see.

** There are dialogue references to numerous real-life figures from UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood, including Creator/RudolphValentino, Creator/DouglasFairbanks, Creator/MabelNormand, Creator/JohnGilbert, and Creator/GretaGarbo.

* SinisterTangoMusic: Tango music plays as Norma forces Joe to dance with her.

** Norma entertains Joe with a (surprisingly good) impersonation of Creator/CharlieChaplin.

** Norma tries to entertain Joe by impersonating Creator/CharlieChaplin.

** There are references to numerous real-life figures from UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood, including Creator/RudolphValentino, Creator/DouglasFairbanks, Creator/MabelNormand, Creator/JohnGilbert, Creator/GretaGarbo, and Creator/CharlieChaplin.

** After his first meeting with Betty in Sheldrake's office – in which she belittles the quality of his proposed baseball-movie script – he sarcastically tells her, "Next time I'll write you ''Literature/TheNakedAndTheDead''."

* StartsWithTheirFuneral: The film starts with a corpse floating in a swimming pool, then flashes back - turns out it's the narrator.

** When he first catches a glimpse of Norma's dilapidated, long-abandoned pool, Joe muses via narration:
---> "Creator/MabelNormand and Creator/JohnGilbert must have swum in it ten thousand midnights ago, and Vilma Bánky and Rod La Rocque."

** And Joe's narration when he attends the funeral for said chimp later on:

--> "Maybe red! Bright, flaming, red! Let's make it gay!"

--> "It was all very queer, but queerer things were yet to come."

* HaveAGayOldTime: When Norma, mistaking Joe for the undertaker who's come to inter her recently-deceased chimp, offers her suggestions for the coffin color:

--> ''"You see, this is my life. It always will be. There's nothing else - just us and the cameras and [[BreakingTheFourthWall those wonderful people out there in the dark]]... [[SignatureLine All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.]]"''

* RightBehindMe:
** When Joe pitches his baseball-picture script to Sheldrake at Paramount, he claims it would make a "good change of pace" role for Creator/AlanLadd. He also claims that Daryl Zanuck of [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century-Fox]] has shown interest in it as a vehicle for Creator/TyronePower.
** We first meet Betty Schaefer went she comes in to give Sheldrake her (less-than-flattering) critique of the script Joe has pitched, not realizing Joe is standing in the room behind her.

* RightBehindMe: We first meet Betty Schaefer went she comes in to give Sheldrake her (less-than-flattering) critique of the script Joe has pitched, not realizing Joe is standing in the room behind her.

* ShoutOut: [[spoiler:The scene in which Norma fatally shoots Joe in her swimming pool is kinda reminiscent of when George B. Wilson does the same to the titular character at his swimming pool in ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby''.]]

* RightBehindMe: We first meet Betty Schaefer went she comes in to give Sheldrake her (unflattering) critique of the script Joe has pitched, not realizing Joe is standing in the room behind her.

* INeverGotAnyLetters: Inverted. Norma Desmond receives hundreds of fan letters a day, [[spoiler: but it turns out they were all written by her dutiful and unconditionally loving butler Max to cushion her from the realities of being discarded by the Hollywood star system and forgotten by her fans]].

* NeverGotAnyLetters: Norma Desmond receives hundreds of fan letters a day — all written by her loving and dutiful butler, Max, to keep Norma in the sense of adoration that she's had since she was in the silent film system, and which has long since ended.

* AsHimself: Creator/CecilBDeMille plays himself. Norma Desmond first approaches him on the set of ''Film/SamsonAndDelilah'', on which shooting had just wrapped. Gossip columnist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedda_Hopper Hedda Hopper]] appears at the end. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Q._Nilsson Anna Q. Nilsson]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._B._Warner H.B. Warner]] and Creator/BusterKeaton appear in one scene as the "Waxworks", but aren't named.

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Norma is an oil millionaire but cares little for the business.

* {{Jerkass}}: [=DeMille=]'s assistant, who is needlessly cruel in offering to give Norma the brush-off, which the director chastises him for. The same assistant also rather tactless about Norma's age, but backtracks when [=DeMille=] points out that ''he's'' old enough to be her father.

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Norma Desmond takes a lot of the ManicPixieDreamGirl symptoms to their logical conclusion, with the twist that the protagonist isn't interested. From the start it's clear that she doesn't have both oars in the water as she's living in a decayed BigFancyHouse, deluding herself that she'll make a comeback with a terrible, {{Glurge}}-filled screenplay of ''Salome''. She quickly bonds with the narrator, agrees to his commission him (to her disadvantage) and quickly throws his life into chaos, leading him to CharacterDevelopment. But not in a good way.