Sunset Blvd. Family Review

A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.In early-1950s Hollywood, obscure screenplay-writer Joe Gillis is unable to sell his work to the studios, is full of debts and thinking of returning to his hometown to work in an office. While trying to escape from his creditors, he has a flat tire and parks his car in a decadent mansion in Sunset Boulevard. He meets the owner and former silent-movie star Norma Desmond, who lives alone with her butler and driver Max Von Mayerling. Norma is demented and believes she will return to the cinema industry, and is protected and isolated from the world by Max, who was her director and husband in the past and still loves her. Norma proposes Joe to move to the mansion and help her in writing a screenplay for her comeback to the cinema, and the small-time writer becomes her lover and gigolo. When Joe falls in love with young aspiring writer Betty Schaefer, Norma becomes jealous and completely insane and her madness leads to a tragic end.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilDesperate for cash, screenwriter Joe Gillis has a chance meeting with a faded silent film star. Norma Desmond lives in her crumbling Sunset Boulevard mansion with only her butler to keep her company. She has become a sad demented recluse convinced that the outside world is clamoring for her dramatic return. Enticing him with the prospect of script work she puts him up in her mansion and he becomes ever more involved and entangled in her life.—B.A. BlackJoe Gillis is a struggling hack B-movie Hollywood screenwriter who is having problems making ends meet. His car, a symbol of independence, is about to be repossessed because he's behind in payments. In eluding the repossessors, Joe stumbles onto the decaying Sunset Boulevard mansion of 50-uear-old faded silent-film star Norma Desmond,, who has largely been forgotten by the moviegoing public. The only other person living in her mansion is her valet Max, whose unofficial job is to prime her fragile but larger-than-life ego. It is somewhat due to Max's lies about the public still clamoring for her that a delusional Norma is working toward her return to pictures in a vanity project. Even if her script was any good, the lead role should be filled by someone half Norma's age. Joe senses an opportunity to act as Norma's ghostwriter to make a quick buck to pay off his creditors, not caring if the movie gets produced. In maneuvering to do the ghost writing work, Joe may be unprepared for what else Norma has in store for him in her need to be loved and wanted. As Joe gets seduced by the comfort that Norma's wealth can afford, it may be too late for him when he finally comes to the realization about what he really wants and how much he must forgo in stoking Norma's ego.—HuggoIn this dark film-noir tale, aging silent-film queen Norma Desmond refuses to accept that her time in the limelight has finished. She lives as a recluse with the deranged beliefs that her stardom is as strong as ever. After meeting Joe Gillis, a young hack screenwriter, she hires him to write a screenplay starring her as an effort to set up her comeback in film. The screenwriter believes he can manipulate her, but soon learns the difficulty of such a task. Furthermore, his ambivalence about their relationship, coupled with Norma's demented unwillingness to let go, leads to damaging consequences for both parties involved.—Kyle Perez1 moreAll