“Sunset Boulevard” Film Review Essay Example

another guy whom she is about to marry, she is attracted to Joe and a relationship starts to develop. Meanwhile, Norma gets to know of Joe’s affair with Betty and gets jealousy. During the final scenes of the movie, Joe is shot at and killed by Norma while he is attempting to leave the mansion and be with Betty.

The movie, Sunset Boulevard is a good illustration of the distinction between story order; which is the chronological flow of narrative events and plot order referring to the flow of events that are adopted in telling the story in the movie. This essay attempts to analyze the film on the basis of the plot order and the story order.

Rather than adopting a linear plot, the film adopts an evocatively circular plot. The circular plot is one that focuses on certain events at the beginning, the middle and the ending of the film. The film begins by presenting a scene of a murder of an unknown young man who is found by the police floating on a swimming pool. Few minutes before the film end, we are presented with the same scene again. It is now revealed who the young man is and how he ended up in the pool dead. This circular plot adopted in the movie leaves the fate of Joe inevitable. At all stages, the end can be predicted. In summary, all the other scenes in the film are filler materials that help answer the numerous questions that came up when we were first introduced to the dead body in the swimming pool. Another scene which depicts the circular nature of the film appears in

the middle when Norma harms herself after Joe escaped from her during the new year party. We see another attempt of the same during the closing scenes when, after talking to Betty, she threatens to harm herself with a pistol she has in her hands. However, she ends up using the pistol on Joe rather than herself. From the on-set of the film, it is easily predictable that the film will end tragically.

The film also employs flash backs in major parts of the story. The flash back structure is a common phenomenon in most of film storytelling. The whole story in the film is actually a flashback. It is narrated by Joe who had died at the beginning of the film. Immediately after the scene showing the police arrive and find the body of an unidentified young man in the swimming pool, a narrator takes up the story and takes the audience to where it began six months earlier. The plot order for Sunset Boulevard begins with the ending. However, we are still surprised to see how the ending unfolds the second time. Furthermore, the voice of the dead protagonist keeps referring the audience to various past activities. During the New Year party, after Joel notices that Norma is seducing him, the voice takes us back to the time they came to know each other. The narrator through the flashback is shocked how he had not noticed the advances made towards him by Norma all that time.
The film also makes use of voice-over narration in telling the story. In voice-over narration, the off-camera commentary is employed instead of showing the actual scenes. In the film

Sunset Boulevard, the technique is employed throughout the whole film. Narration, for instance, takes up after the first scenes introducing the murder at the swimming pool. Once we are introduced to the dead body, the narrator takes up to tell us how the story began and how it ended up in the pool. The mystery of the murder of Joe is in a progressive manner told via his narration in the film. The narration helps the audience in figuring out the secrets behind his death up to the point when it is revealed in the film. The narration also helps the audience to get the feelings of the narrator at different points in the plot. For instance, when Norma has harmed herself and Joel returns to the mansion, the dull mood in the film can be felt through the narrator. In another scene, when Joel and Betty are discussing the script at Raymond Pictures, his happiness can be read all over through the narration of the story.

The film has also employed act twist in several scenes. An act twist is whereby there is a sudden and unexpected turn of events. The use of this technique helps create suspense throughout the film. When Joe first meets Norma, she thinks he is an undertaker for her dead monkey. When he reveals that he is not an undertaker, she is annoyed with him and sents him out. However, when Joe reveals that he is a script writer, she suddenly changes her mind and requests him to read her script for the film she wanted to use as her come-back to the industry. Another twist is presented in the

scene where Norm has learned that Joe and Betty are having n affair. She calls her to tell the actual situation of Joe. When Joe picks the call, he invites Betty to see for herself. Instead of welcoming her when she arrives he pushes her further away be explaining that he and Norma are up to something good. A final twist is presented in the scene where Joe is packing his clothes to leave and Norma is pleading with him not to leave. At this point, she threatens to take her life if he leaves. Joe rubbishes the threat and proceeds to explain that Paramount Pictures did not need her. This revelation hurts her so much that she decides to terminate Joe’s life. Instead of committing suicide as she has threatened, she kills Joe. These twists in the structure of the film and like in any other film help to create suspense. The audience is kept alert on what the next move may be.

Perhaps focusing on the background of the film can help us understand why the plot was set as it is. The film is a story depicting how people in Hollywood use each other and leave them on their own once they are no longer useful. Though it begins like a story of Joe, it ends being the story of a silent actor who had disappeared from the screen for 20 years. In the first scenes, Joe who is having financial difficulties approaches his former producers for help with a script. His script is not only rubbished as useless but the producers cannot offer any financial help at his time of need. The

film then twists to become the story of Norma who had exited the industry but was working on a return. When her script is sent to Paramount Pictures, they are unwilling to offer any help. In fact, they only want her car, perhaps for a scene in one of their movies. Though her former style is by passed by time, they show their ruthlessness by declining her much-needed chance. The same concept is not limited to the producers but extends to Norma as well. All she needs with Joe, just like Max who was her former husband is to ruthlessly use him and leave him when he is no longer useful.

In conclusion, a plot which scrambles story events can engage the audience in attempting to comprehend the story and get the logic flow in it. The plot order in many instances may not match the story order. However, plot order and story order can in most cases be similar. Whenever there is a mismatch in the two, it is prudent to think why the maker of the film chose to plot events as he did. The film, Sunset Boulevard is a perfect example of how plot order and story order can be blended together but come out distinctively. The film adopts a circular plot by repeating scenes at different points in its flow. It further makes use of flashbacks by allowing the narrator to recapture the story that started six months before the first scene. The first scene is actually the conclusion of the story. Act twists are further employed to create suspense to the viewer on what may be the turn of events. The

film is a perfect presentation of the historical situation of movie actors in Hollywood in 1950.

References

1. Lewis J. (2013). Essential Cinema: An Introduction to Film Analysis. Cengage Learning.
2. Carroll, N. (2013). Minerva's night out: Philosophy, pop culture, and moving pictures. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.