Analysis Of The Film 'Sunset Boulevard' By Billy Wilder

For this essay I will briefly describe what film noir is and I will also be critically analysing the film noir “Sunset Boulevard” by Billy Wilder. I will be exploring character themes, thematic concerns and visual style. Film noir originally comes from the French language, it means black film/dark film, this could be referring to the fact that film noir are traditionally black and white as they are from the 1940s to around the late 1950s or because film noir has a dark story line and generally have dark shadowy scenes and shady characters. The story in a film noir is almost always an American crime involving a very stereotypical, average man who lives a boring, routine life and seems to be becoming bored of his 9 to 5 job who stumbles upon

It then introduces us to Joe Gillis, a screenplay writer, sitting at his type writer in his dark apartment. Joe can’t seem to sell his screen plays to any studios, this is causing him to struggle to pay his bills and is making him be in quite a lot of debt. Two bailiffs arrive to his apartment and inform him on his missed payments and threaten to take his car but Joe tells them that car is not there. When the bailiffs leave Joe then goes to a carpark near by and retrieves the car, the bailiffs spot Joe and thus begins an intense, heart racing car chase. Joe gets a flat tyre and loses the bailiffs by quickly turns into a driveway of what appears to be a dark abandoned

Norma refuses to accept that she is no longer a big star and continues to sign autographs and continuously talks about her fans. When Joe tries to cut certain scenes from the script, Norma tells him to put them back in as she must be in every scene as she is the star. Norma forces Joe to watch her silent movies and when she feels he is becoming bored she puts on a show for him. Joe moves into the main house after a leak in his room and discovers that there are no locks on any doors, Max, the butler, explains that Norma has poor mental health and has attempted suicide on a number of occasions. Max then tells Joe that it is in fact him that sends Norma the fan mail.
It is evident that Norma has fallen in love with Joe as she buys him a number of gifts, including a suit for a luxurious New Years eve party she is throwing. When Joe turns up to the party he learns that there will be no guests other than himself and Norma. Norma and Joe dance together, this is when Norma proclaims her love for Joe. Joe rejects her and heads to a friends party. Joe later calls the mansion with the intentions of telling max hes moving out but max tells him that Norma has cut her wrists with a razor. Joe rushes to Norma and