Sunset Boulevard (Narrative)

*This guide accompanies a lecture on narrative film.

  1. From whose point of view is Sunset Boulevard told? How and when do you learn this?
  2. Is this point of view rather odd for a film (or any type of narrative for that matter)? Why?
  3. What causes Joe Gillis to drive his car into the empty five-car garage of the Sunset Blvd. mansion?
  4. What do the butler and the woman of the house initially believe Joe Gillis’s occupation is? How does their assumption here–along with the (morbid!?) exposition–set the overall mood/tone of the film?
  5. What is Joe’s actual occupation?
  6. What kind of film star was/is Norma Desmond?
  7. What does Max secretly send to Norma? Why?
  8. What is the status of Norma’s and Joe’s relationship after the two ring in the New Year? What does Joe become to her?
  9. Why has Max dutifully accepted his subservient role? Why did he return?
  10. What does this final conversation reinforce about Norma’s mental and emotional state? (Norma: Cameras? What is it, Max? / Max: The cameras have arrived. / Norma: They have? Tell Mr. De Mille I’ll be on the set at once… There’s nothing else–just us–and the cameras–and those wonderful people out there in the dark. All right, Mr. De Mille, I’m ready for my close-up.)
  11. What is one instance of causal logic in this film? Which character is motivating the actions, and how is he/she doing that?
  12. What occurs in the film lets you know that Norma Desmond’s character is coherent, or is it?
  13. Would you consider Norma Desmond a figurative character type? Why or why not?
  14. What plots parallel each other in Sunset Boulevard?
  15. What type of narrator and/or narration does Sunset Boulevard employ?
  16. Are there any flashbacks or flashforwards in this film?
  17. How does Sunset Boulevard fit the model for the classical Hollywood narrative?
  18. What is the story of Sunset Boulevard (not the plot)?