Sunset Boulevard Sequence Analysis: Norma Desmond’s Final Scene Morgan Condict College

In Billy Wilder’s 1950 film Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson plays a former silent film star named Norma Desmond who lives as a wealthy recluse in order to protect herself from the truth of her irrelevance in the public eye. In the film’s first act, Norma becomes involved in a complicated romantic relationship with a down-on-his luck screenwriter named Joe Gillis, played by William Holden. It is later revealed to Joe that Norma’s faithful butler Max, who works tirelessly to defend her delusions of grandeur, also happens to be her ex-husband and the director of the silent films that made her famous. In the film’s tense climax, Joe is shot dead by Norma as he tries to escape her luxurious mansion of broken dreams. Following his death is one of the most iconic sequences in film history. When Norma’s fantasy is threatened by the reality of her crime, she dissociates completely from reality and slips into a state of permanent psychosis in which she gives one last chilling performance. When dissecting the final shot sequence of the film we can see that Norma’s psychotic break and the driving forces behind it are depicted through ingenious use of editing techniques, shapes in composition and character blocking.

The final sequence is...