Un scénariste est engagé pour retravailler le texte d'une ancienne vedette du cinéma muet qui espère un retour triomphant avec ce rôle. De cette collaboration naquit une dangereuse relation ... Tout lireUn scénariste est engagé pour retravailler le texte d'une ancienne vedette du cinéma muet qui espère un retour triomphant avec ce rôle. De cette collaboration naquit une dangereuse relation amoureuse.Un scénariste est engagé pour retravailler le texte d'une ancienne vedette du cinéma muet qui espère un retour triomphant avec ce rôle. De cette collaboration naquit une dangereuse relation amoureuse.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
- Récompensé par 3 Oscars
- 21 victoires et 20 nominations au total
- 1st Finance Man
- (as Larry Blake)
- Cop Who Drags Joe's Body from Pool
- (non crédité)
Résumé
Avis à la une
Joe Gillis, a struggling writer, finds himself in the drive of a Hollywood palazzo when he wants somewhere to hide his car. The house belongs to Norma Desmond, who 'used to be big' in pictures, and Joe gets drawn to Norma and drawn into her weird world of flickering shadows.
The acting honours in this movie go squarely to Gloria Swanson, herself a 'star of yesteryear' as Norma, who is superb as the actress living in the past. Not that she plays Norma as exclusively tragic(the scene where she impersonates Chaplin is priceless) but perhaps no one could get to grips with the demands of this part better. William Holden plays Joe, his breakthrough role, and he does the part very well, while Erich von Stroheim plays faded Hollywood director Max von Mayerling (naturally a reflection of himself), and newcomer Nancy Olson plays Betty, a girl too nice to become submerged just yet in dreamland's poison.
The script is its moments of OTT-ness, but it is never less than interesting and draws in the viewer to the point when you are with Norma when she visits her old studio and talks of the joy of coming home; you are with Joe and Nancy as they fall in love among the cardboard settings of movie sets; and you are in the hall with Hedda Hopper watching Norma's last descent into madness.
The musical version which appeared in the 1990s had the heart and soul of this movie in mind, and was an excellent tribute to it.
So I think Wilder meant for the audience to sympathize with Joe. Sure he makes some questionable moral moves, but he is to some degree cornered. He would have to get a hand out from somebody to go back to his job that he hates at the copy desk in Ohio, and his pride wouldn't let him. Also, some say he becomes attracted to Norma. He at best is giving her pity sex and at worst duty sex. He looks either revolted or bored every time she touches him.
There are just great performances and interesting characters all around. Unpopular opinion here - I never thought Gloria Swanson was a pretty woman, but she had such severe features that she could come across as an attractive yet unhinged woman for age 50 as Norma. Eric Von Stroheim as Max. He was a great director who lets his obsession with Norma delude them both. And then there is Betty Schaefer, the down to earth girl who does the 50s thing and gets engaged to a man the way you would buy a car - she picks something reliable and likeable and omits passion from the equation. And then she finds passion. There could have been a sequel noir with her married to the dull dutiful Artie when she begins to call the mailman by his first name. The postman would only have to ring once in her case. But I digress.
This is also a great look at Hollywood and Paramount Studios as it existed in 1950. It's too bad we don't have more actual films from Paramount Studios as it existed in 1950. To me this is a perfect film.
One of the most appealing aspects of this film is how, in the story, an aging, forgotten star is trying to recapture a bygone era (the silent film era). What's interesting is that now, so many years later, we're looking back at her looking back. To present day viewers, Gloria Swanson of the 1950's is a long forgotten lost gem and to experience her own longing for the 1920's is especially captivating (and a little chilling, I might add). I don't think this film could have had that same effect when it debuted and maybe this added dimension holds so much more appeal for today's audiences. We all know that nothing lasts forever, but we don't often consider the abandoned participants; much like the veterans of a past war.
In response to the famous Swanson line (while watching one of her silent films): "...we didn't need dialogue; we had faces", I'd like to also add that they "didn't need movies; they had films."
They truly don't make them like this anymore. 10/10
--Shelly
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesUnlike the character she played, Gloria Swanson had accepted the fact that the movies didn't want her anymore and had moved to New York, where she worked on radio and, later, television. Although she had long before ruled out the possibility of a movie comeback, she was nevertheless highly intrigued when she got the offer to play the lead.
- GaffesWhen Max is telling Joe about directing Madam's first pictures, there is a bad dub of the word "sixteen". After the Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle trial and the subsequent establishment of the Hays Office to enforce the new Production Code, the producers were concerned that the original age of 14 would be considered child porn and had the line changed in post.
- Citations
Joe Gillis: Wait a minute, haven't I seen you before? I know your face.
Norma Desmond: Get out! Or shall I call my servant?
Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.
Norma Desmond: I *am* big. It's the *pictures* that got small.
- Crédits fousThe Paramount logo appears as a transparency over the opening shot. The words "Sunset Blvd." are shown stenciled on the curb of that street.
- ConnexionsEdited into Les Amoureux du cinéma (1987)
- Bandes originalesThe Paramount-Don't-Want-Me Blues
(1950) (uncredited)
Written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans
Performed by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans at Artie's party
Meilleurs choix
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Langue
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- El ocaso de una vida
- Lieux de tournage
- 10060 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, Californie, États-Unis(Norma Desmond's driveway gate)
- Société de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
Box-office
- Budget
- 1 752 000 $US (estimé)
- Montant brut aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 299 645 $US
- Week-end de sortie aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 169 067 $US
- 13 mai 2018
- Montant brut mondial
- 310 954 $US
- Durée1 heure 50 minutes
- Couleur
- Rapport de forme
- 1.37 : 1