Screening on 35mm

One of the most renowned and devastating of film noirs – and a caustic black comedy about the Hollywood system – SUNSET BLVD begins with a corpse floating in a swimming pool and ends with an indelible moment for star Gloria Swanson. Swanson plays Norma Desmond, a silent era screen goddess who has become a faded recluse sustaining herself on the glow cast from her past triumphs. Drawn into this deluded spider’s web is a Joe Gillis (Holden), a down-on-his-luck screenwriter who jumps at the chance to work on Desmond’s comeback script – even if it is a stinker. Caught between trying to placate his diva and free himself from her increasingly suffocating grip, Gillis finds himself in a position that it’s impossible to escape from.