quite simply and one of the sharp screenplay ever write and luckily it have performance to match . this movie and and if you haven not see it then you really should rush out to grab it immediately and tell of a symbiotically parasitic relationship that develop between an age film star and a struggle writer . william holden ( the writer ) be the coolest narrator ever and his character and although often unlikeable and just about keep u onside for the duration of the movie . even if writer or director billy wilder doesn not manage to keep our sympathy with the right character for most of the movie he produce some scene in the second half that give holden character a twisted redemption and reason to finally make a completely clean breast of thing and an escape route from norma . a for norma desmond herself ( the star who have definitely fade ) and she may well be the single great human character ever to be throw onto celluloid . half quasimodo and half bride of frankenstein and . . . . . . ummmm . . . . half dracula daughter . gloria swanson bravely play the faded movie star with a perfect mix of sadness and fiery anger and intense narcissism and pride and all mix up with some mild overacting and permanent melodrama . max and the butler and be the avid fan take to the extreme . devote and adore and ever present and he the perfect audience member and just what norma desmond need to keep her sanity for as long a she do . do he actually help her or be he ultimately responsible for her fall over the edge . max or joe and who be the big culprit . an interesting question that i be not sure i could easily answer . of course and many other people also help to keep norma from the truth . cecil b demille and her card playing buddy and even security guard still work at the studio . if more people have react the same way a joe do initially ( dismiss norma and prompt her reply of i be big and it the picture that get small ) then maybe she would have ease back down to earth . if her ego and vanity would have ever allow it . the only real innocent character in the movie and the only one who doesn not help to perpetuate any fantasy and who doesn not act for purely personal gain and be betty schaffer . it be poor betty who be quickly draw in and chew up and spat out by holden character ( hmmmm . . . a writer responsible for break the heart of a young and up and come lady . . . . surely not ) . some people have point they argue about this movie . why do joe stick around for so long . he be a shallow guy and he want the meal ticket that he be be offer and and yes and despite his disgust at the offering he always end up take them . why do he end up back with norma on that fateful night after her suicide attempt . because he be too scared and he do not want to feel responsible for anyone else pain . if he would never actually hear of norma fate then he would have be long go but once it be relay to him and and still with the fresh memory of the part he play and then he have to make sure that he hadn not do any long term damage . joe enjoy make a buck but he wasn not a completely uncaring man . i love this movie with all my be . i love the faded and preserved shrine that be norma desmond house . the car and the swimming pool be return to work order and just a norma herself be and for the benefit of joe . be we watch gloria swanson play norma desmond throughout this film or be we watch an old actress play every idol that we have ever discard . be the movie disturbing because of the interplay of the character or because we and a an audience and do not want to venture into this world of forgotten star and empty theatre . be i read too much into this film . maybe i be and maybe i do not care . just see it and love it . see this if you like represent billy wild and the player and singin in the rain . nb and this review be adapt from the original write under my old rockyschlockyrobot id that i have long forget how to access .