Sunset Boulevard

Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard is a film overflowing with classic lines (“We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces”; “i am big. it’s the pictures that got small”), mostly uttered by faded silent-movie queen Norma desmond, played by faded silent-movie queen Gloria swanson. But even this dialogue pales into insignificance compared to the film’s final line. Believing she is going on set of her long-cherished Salome script directed by Cecil B. demille (she is actually facing news cameras about a murder), the deluded desmond descends the stairs of her decrepit mansion, waving her hands like a drama queen, and says to her butler (erich Von stroheim): “Alright, Mr. demille, i’m ready for my close-up.” it’s one hell of a way to go out.

“Her world has become completely unhinged,” says ed sikov, author of On Sunset Boulevard: the Life And times Of Billy Wilder. “she is off the deep end and she is not coming back in the final shot. she is performing a demented version of the character who is the basis of her already demented script. There are several levels of craziness going on here.”

The shot was tackled three times during the course of the shoot. The first attempt was on 16 June 1949, with swanson’s descent down the staircase proving too funny in a Grand Guignol way. A week later, Wilder had another go, shooting the scene with desmond walking not toward a final close-up but to a final fade-out. yet, reviewing footage during the winter, Wilder still didn’t feel the scene was tonally right.

so on 5 January 1950, the director reconvened the crew to reshoot, playing the ‘dance Of The seven Veils’ from richard strauss’ opera Salome as a mood setter in the manner of a silent director. Wilder burned through ten takes in all, some with swanson sporting a manic expression, others with a more pleasant air.

On the last take, swanson, with a deranged look and those histrionic hand movements, walked towards camera to the point where she goes blurry.

“The focus gets thrown out by the focus carrier,” Wilder told interviewer Cameron Crowe. “i left the camera running. i didn’t know when to cut.”

The moment has lived on, even if Norma’s line is often misquoted. (Mrs. Doubtfire delivers the most common, if understandable, faux pas: “i’m ready for my close-up, Mr. demille.”)

“it resonates with people because who doesn’t imagine themselves as a movie star?” says sikov. “so when she says she is ready for her close-up, it is so quotable because it elevates everyone to the level of a movie star. But, of course, we’re not.”

Given Norma desmond’s final mindset, we should be thankful for small mercies. Sunset Boulevard is out now on DVD, Blu-ray and Download