3/16/2023 0 Comments Movies with a narratorThe other principal virtue of the narration, to my mind, is the involvement of the narration in a kind of surreal thematic resonance. As Joe Gillis spends the first act of the film attempting to make his way as a hollywood writer, there is no shortage of commentary on the shallower productions being the ones that often sell best. Some narrators try to get along with the audience, to varying degrees of success but your approval or disapproval of the narrator feels utterly irrelevant in Sunset Boulevard.Īnd certainly the self-conscious, meta element of the narration (Gillis’ biting remarks about hollywood) give the film a feeling of implicit authenticity and honesty which is tough to properly replicate. And, while the post-mortem reason for this shamelessness will be explored below, the effect of this shamelessness is an immediate ring of truth. Gillis is totally without shame or filter in his appraisal of his situation for the audience at different times in the narrative. Joe Gillis’ insecurities regarding his mounting interdependence with Norma Desmond is a subject of direct address in his narration. In my previous article for this series, the topic was Michael Haneke’s 1997 anti-slasher slasher, Funny Games, and Sunset Boulevard, while a lot less violent, is not much less gut-wrenching at times.Īnd how does the audience come to experience this intense vulnerability on the part of the film and its characters? Well, I would say that that is one of the two principal virtues of its use of narration. I would contend that it has to do with the intimate vulnerability involved in the plot of Sunset Boulevard. Still, there is something about Sunset Boulevard that sets it apart as somehow more visceral and natural than those other classics. Billy Wilder’s film is as good as its reputation and better. It is a member of that pantheon of cinematic achievements from 1940-50 which-like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre -is rightly revered. Sunset Boulevard is a gripping classic about decadence, dependence, delusion, and mortality. The nature of this article is such that it requires spoiling basic plot details of Sunset Boulevard, so you should only continue reading after this paragraph if you either do not mind spoilers or have already seen the film. What sets Sunset Boulevard so far ahead, however, is its use of the narrator (Joe Gillis, portrayed by William Holden) to support the thematic content of the film. When its exposition is not overbearing and obvious, the narrator’s voice can be an inoffensive tool to transition from scene to scene. Most people can name at least one use of the protagonist narrator that probably did not turn out quite like the director envisioned it (a reasonably modern example is Harrison Ford’s narration in Blade Runner, which was entirely removed from the director’s cut and final cut of the film). But this technique has varying degrees of success. Using the protagonist as a narrator is a tactic that is abundantly present in the noir genre from which Sunset Boulevard derives many of its tropes. But because I’m in the business of writing things that might interest or entertain you, I am going to approach this recommendation from the following angle: Sunset Boulevard represents one of the best uses of a protagonist narrator in the past hundred years of film. This article is essentially a recommendation (without qualifying remarks) of a film that really needs no introduction: Sunset Boulevard.
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