Still regarded as the greatest film ever made on the subject of Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard charts the ill-fated meeting of faded star Norma Desmond (Swanson) and screenwriter on the make, Joe Gillis (Holden). Living in virtual isolation in a mansion, Norma spends her lonely days dreaming of how she could become a big name again. Joe comes across the decrepit mansion and the lonely has-been by chance. Gillis is struggling to make it big and the dichotomy between the woman who's been at the top and the man who's scrabbling at the bottom, provides an interesting take on the asinine world of stardom and the film industry.

Norma not only employs Gillis to work on her comeback script, but she falls in love with him in the process, showering him with expensive gifts. Unbeknown to her, Gillis is also working with a young studio writer Betty (Olson) on a collaboration and, ratherthan returning any amorous feelings towards Norma, Gillis falls for Betty and things get complicated.

In an industry where youth and beauty are pretty much a prerequisite for continued employment, Norma struggles to come to terms with her fall from grace and for Gillis to go behind her back is an unqualified affront, after all the kindness she fells she has shown him. Norma believes she owns the young writer, as she has owned many people in the past and this only serves to highlight the materialistic nature and egocentric view that presides over Norma's Hollywood. A warped outlook perhaps, but one that ends in murder and Norma Desmond's last great close-up. Erich von Stroheim gives an astounding performance as her former director/lover and now butler.