In Billy Wilder’s 1950 film, Sunset Boulevard, there are a multitude of ideological themes that certain characters share despite being in completely different situations from each other. One of these themes that Wilder illustrates in the film is devotion, specifically in terms of the willingness to sacrifice one’s ambitions and a more logical choice in order to care for a person in a different, less fortunate predicament. This theme of devotedness is viewed similarly between the characters, Max (Erich von Stroheim) and Betty (Nancy Olson). Max had a very promising directing career during the silent film era but gave it up in order to disguisedly care for his former wife Norma (Gloria Swanson), whose own career in film had faded into obscurity. Despite Norma’s crippled mental state and the loss of his own prominence, Max loyally stays by her side which shows Wilder’s implication of sacrificial devotion. In Betty’s case, she has a fruitful career as a script reviewer and is making a successful transition to writing. She is also engaged to Artie (Jack Webb) a successful man in the film industry. Despite her career being on the rise she is willing to give some of those advantages up in order to be with Joe (William Holden), who hasn’t had much success regarding his own career as a writer. By showing how both Betty and Max are devoted to dysfunctional people, Wilder forms a connection between two characters who are in completely different situations and different phases in their lives and have very little screen time with one-another.
Another theme that Wilder implicates to compliment feelings of devotion is the responding theme of betrayal which is demonstrated in behaviors Norma and Joe. Despite Betty’s devotedness to Joe and her explicit intention to leave aspects of her life that could bring her more success, Joe doesn’t care the way she does, and would rather stay with Norma due to the financial stability she provides him with. In Max’s case, no matter how much he tries to accommodate Norma’s delusional mental state, there seems to be of sign of her grasping reality and recognizing Max for who he truly is and the efforts and situations that he is committing himself too, thus leaving him in a hopeless situation.
By implementing various aspects of sound in different scenes of the film, Wilder and Franz Waxman give Sunset Boulevard an enhanced sense of realism and suspense. One of the forms of sound application that they use is internal sound in some scenes and external sound in others. Internal sound usage can be heard when Joe tours Norma’s mansion for the first time and hears an ominous whistling. While it initially sounds like it’s part of the film’s external soundtrack, the reality is that it’s noise from a very loud organ that is being influenced by the wind, as Max explains. Another example of internal sound can be heard at the New Years Eve party that Joe attends through the piano. External sound can be heard in the scene where Joe is fatally shot by Norma. The music suddenly becomes very loud and intensified after being at a lower volume when Norma says, “No one ever leaves a star, that’s what makes one a star”. By rapidly changing the volume and tone of the music, Wilder and Waxman add even more intensity to a scene that arguably symbolizes the film’s climactic ending for the two troubled characters.
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