MovieChat Forums > Sunset Boulevard (1950) Discussion > One of the greatest and possibly THE mos...

One of the greatest and possibly THE most unique performance ever


It is simply mind blowing to imagine this film being released in 1950.
Gloria Swanson's Norma Desmond is the maybe the strangest, creepiest most perfectly delivered performance I have ever seen.

This film defines weird movies. There have been thousands of films made after this trying to be more strange and none of them have maybe delivered in such a nonchalant way as this film. This film is so effortlessly bizarre, unsettling and spot on. "I got three blocks downtown and oil pumping in Bakersfield. Pumping, pumping, pumping."

The first quarter of the film is like a barrage of amazing lines. Just one insightful acerbic crack after another about Hollywood.

How does a person come up with the delivery Swanson came up with for this film? How in the world did she pull this part off so perfectly, toe the line so relentlessly, without going over? It never seems like overacting and yet every single moment of her performance is so over the top. There really has never been anything like it on screen before or after.
What did Wilder and Brackett envision when they wrote that part? How could they possibly have imagined Swanson's finished product?
This film and Swanson's performance boggle my mind.







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Well said. Specially about her acting.

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I have to imagine that Gloria knew this character because in a way, she was this character. That was the genius of this casting. She was a silent film star who never truly made it to talkies or had aged out. And ditto for most of her peers including Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish. So, she knew better than anyone that a person could be the greatest star of all and then next day be old news. The fact that Gloria agreed to play this part was a huge credit to her. And she played it with such complexity. It's brilliance.

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'It never seems like overacting'..Am I watching the same movie?..Haha..I thought it was a masterclass in overacting. Nobody in real life speaks like you're in a living Theatre performance with the giant hand gestures..But I guess this was the style at the time..They almost sing the dialogue

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Err, no, guess you missed it, but it wasn't 'the style at the time', the whole point of the performance was that Norma wasn't existing in what you, and we, call 'real life,' but was still living her day to day life as though the cameras from the silent days were still filming her. Get it?

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Okay, I admit I didn't pay full attention to the movie so that makes more sense...But you don't think people overacted in those days? You're tearing me apppaaart!!! ( And that's from James Dean who was trying to break away from the loud theatrical over the top dialogue which comes across as phoney and unbelievable.. James yes that's great your using method acting but now lets dial those emotions back about 50% to where it's somewhat realistic)..

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I will agree with you on "Rebel" /Dean. Heresy to some but yes, a bit ham-fisted/overwrought. But one could perhaps argue that was to help convey the angst and over-large emotions that teens often feel - everything just seems so big and huge at that age. Still, for me, not one of my favorites there.

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When you read old biographies you realize a lot of those Golden Age film stars were off their rockers in various ways, from personality disorders to substance abuse and alcoholism. (Now too but I guess they have more professional help than back then.) There is such a thing as "histrionic personality disorder" and it's almost like Gloria Swanson had known people with it to emulate it so perfectly. There is an individual we suspect with borderline personality disorder in my entourage and believe me, some pretty surreal situations occur. I used to think the Desmond character was "over-the-top" and now see she could really exist, except maybe for the ending. Slashing her wrists and manipulating Joe with suicide threats, always contradicting him etc., are not really far-fetched at all. The scene where she phones his new girlfriend chills me to the bone.

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When Gloria Swanson first appeared in this movie, I did think that she was overacting noticeably. Why is she constantly making this "Salvador Dali face", I asked myself. But later I got used to it and it didn't bother me. And of course, her character was supposed to be overacting like that, because she basically imagined herself as being in one of her silent movies constantly. In silent movies such overacting was considered a requirement, because the lack of voice demanded more facial expressions and body movement from actors to convey emotions. I guess that's why Gloria Swanson did this strange expression and hand movement much of the time.

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