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Sunset Boulevard
From the "Never seen it, but feel like I should have" category, Sunset Boulevard (1950) recently found its way into the
Ivy Leagro rotation. It was a good call.
Following the travails of a down-on-his luck writer (like anyone you know?) and his unlikely encounter with a has-been
starlet turned sugar momma, Sunset Boulevard's script reads like a primer on how to be a star melting down.
Known primarily for her classic line, "I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille," Norma Desmond is the archetype for withering
fame and insanity as caused by a life too public. She's almost too perfectly archetypal.
We are introduced to her when our writer/protagonist, Joe Gillis is mistaken for the vendor of infant coffins come calling
on Ms Desmond, who is in mourning over her pet chimpanzee. It is as if Michael Jackson was taking notes.
There's more to the film, but the take-home is that it is good, creepy, and worth the two hours. Ivy Leagro is
especially a fan of the exchange that introduces Desmond:
Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. You used to be really big, once.
Desmond: I AM really big. It's the pictures that got small.
Amen to that.
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