Ms Kathleen's Movie Review

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Norma of course is not a wrinkled crone. She is only 50 in the film, younger than modern day stars such as Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep. There is a scene during Norma's beauty makeover when a magnifying glass is held in front of her eyes, and we are startled by how smooth Swanson's skin is. Swanson in real life was a health fanatic who fled from the sun, which no doubt protected her skin (she was 53 when she made the film), but the point in ``Sunset Boulevard'' is that she has aged not in the flesh but in the mind; she has become fixed at the moment of her greatness, and lives in the past.

The only thing the film lacks is more sympathy between Joe and Max, who have so much in common. Joe likes the lifestyle with Norma. And, like Max, he has fallen under her spell.

When the heavy rains come in the last week in December the garage roof leaks and Joe is reluctantly forced to transfer into a room in the main house where Norma's three husbands had once stayed. In a later conversation with Max we learn his secret...

Max: “You must understand, I discovered her when she was sixteen. I made her a star and I cannot let her be destroyed...I directed all her early films....”

Joe(cynically): “And she's turned you into a servant.”

Max (revealing why he came back): “It was I who asked to come back, humiliating as it may seem. I could have continued my career, only I found everything unendurable after she had left me. You see, I was her first husband.”