“Life, which can be strangely merciful, had taken pity on Norma Desmond. The dream she had clung to so desperately had enfolded her” (Gillis). Fame is often bigger than the eyes can see. The dream of experiencing Hollywood stardom is prominent in the minds of the world. Reaching fame is considerably easy, but attaining that achievement of fame is hard to come by as Norma Desmond knows all too well. She was an impressive silent movie queen, but got caught up in the corruption of success. Billy Wilder’s award winning film of the year 1950, Sunset Boulevard, portrays the theme of corruption of fame. Sunset Boulevard, compared to the films Chinatown and The Maltese Falcon, establishes a greater essence of film noir through the use of black and
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American screenwriter, Paul Schrader wrote, “For a long time film noir, with its emphasis on corruption and despair, was considered an aberration of the American character”. Not only is Sunset Boulevard the best film noir because of its theme of corruption, but also Wilder uses point of view, low angle, and high angle shots to demonstrate the suspenseful corruption of fame throughout the film. Suspense starts off early in the film as the opening shot is of a man floating dead in a pool. Wilder uses this camera angle to make the audience feel like they are present in the scene. This opening scene portrays the theme of doom and suspense, we are hooked into the film, desperately wanting to know the outcome of the dead body. Film Noir is known to mean “dark film”, thus Sunset Boulevard is a black and white film, which is …show more content…
As seen through the scene in the studio, Norma is unhappy and pushes the microphones away. During this scene, we see the difference in lighting between Norma and the other characters; Norma has the spotlight shining on her, showing her power and fame, she stands out compared to everyone else, and the cast in the studio starts to surround her. Wilder uses a lot of high-contrast lighting mostly in Norma’s mansion, which creates dark shadows, an important characteristic of film noir. The incorporation of dark shadows is greatly connected to the darkness that is ever so present in Norma’s film career at the time. Schrader states, “As in German expressionism, oblique and vertical lines are preferred to horizontal… Light enters the dingy rooms of film noir in such odd shapes - jagged trapezoids, obtuse triangles, vertical slits-that one suspects the windows were cut out with a pen knife”. We see these vertical and horizontal lines throughout the film, mostly in Norma’s mansion. Furthermore, this lighting technique is used to show the corruption of ones identity and
American screenwriter, Paul Schrader wrote, “For a long time film noir, with its emphasis on corruption and despair, was considered an aberration of the American character”. Not only is Sunset Boulevard the best film noir because of its theme of corruption, but also Wilder uses point of view, low angle, and high angle shots to demonstrate the suspenseful corruption of fame throughout the film. Suspense starts off early in the film as the opening shot is of a man floating dead in a pool. Wilder uses this camera angle to make the audience feel like they are present in the scene. This opening scene portrays the theme of doom and suspense, we are hooked into the film, desperately wanting to know the outcome of the dead body. Film Noir is known to mean “dark film”, thus Sunset Boulevard is a black and white film, which is …show more content…
As seen through the scene in the studio, Norma is unhappy and pushes the microphones away. During this scene, we see the difference in lighting between Norma and the other characters; Norma has the spotlight shining on her, showing her power and fame, she stands out compared to everyone else, and the cast in the studio starts to surround her. Wilder uses a lot of high-contrast lighting mostly in Norma’s mansion, which creates dark shadows, an important characteristic of film noir. The incorporation of dark shadows is greatly connected to the darkness that is ever so present in Norma’s film career at the time. Schrader states, “As in German expressionism, oblique and vertical lines are preferred to horizontal… Light enters the dingy rooms of film noir in such odd shapes - jagged trapezoids, obtuse triangles, vertical slits-that one suspects the windows were cut out with a pen knife”. We see these vertical and horizontal lines throughout the film, mostly in Norma’s mansion. Furthermore, this lighting technique is used to show the corruption of ones identity and