When I first moved to New York I lived in a rent controlled apartment in Chelsea with a 65 year old woman who used to wake me up at three in the morning to tell me about the 70s and who I’m about 80% sure tried to poison me when I was moving out. Was a very stressful living situation but ultimately it was worth it because it allowed me to understand this movie on a level none of you could ever imagine.

Joe: 🗿
Norma Desmond: 😳😩😂😈🥺😦😮🤠🥴😭🤣😍😤😨🤤💀🍅🦵🦶💪👊💅🙅‍♀️👅👄🦷🧨🪛💸⚙️💰🛢🔨🔪🪦⚔️💸💰🗡💊💊🛋🪣🧪🧽🪟🧼🖼🚰🧪🛍📥📉📈📤📜🗃🔒🔒🖤✂️💛⁉️📵🏧🛗♿️🅿️🆒🔠#️⃣6️⃣🔤8️⃣⏹#️⃣🔡⏯🈁🔄🔄🔄🔄🔄🔃➿🔃🟡➗🟡➗🟡🟡🟡🟡✖️🎵♾🟡🟢🔀🟠🔄🟠✖️➗➖🟠🎵🔴🔃™️8️⃣🆕⏯⤵️⤵️🔃🔀©️🎶©️™️🔃®️🎵®️🔄↗️🎵↔️↕️🔚↖️🔚™️⤵️©️♾👁‍🗨®️↔️🔛⬇️🔙🔚↖️↗️™️✖️🟣

i’m the fact that norma decides to trust joe, a complete stranger, solely due to the fact that he is a sagittarius

norma desmond being an astrology hoe makes all the sense in the world

100

A final image can be ambiguous or illuminating, ill-defined or razor-sharp, but Billy Wilder takes a moment of supreme clarity and showcases it through gradual opacity; a star slowly succumbing to an out-of-focus recreation of the glory days, one which is, in actuality, confined to a homicidal reality. Ah, showbiz.

"I am big! It's the pictures that got small!"

Masterfully snappy dialogue like only Billy Wilder and the golden age of 40's and 50's film-noir can deliver. A comeback performance from Gloria Swanson to redefine the very notion of a comeback (I still can't get over how expressive her face is). Incisive commentary on the process of filmmaking which extends to the real lives of its cast and crew (Gloria Swanson returning to film as Norma Desmond returning to film; Erich von Stroheim, the director of Gloria Swanson's early films, as Max von Mayerling, the director of Norma Desmond's early films). Prescient awareness of the critical lack of genuinely new stories two decades before anyone would use the term "postmodern" to describe literature. A truly one of a kind film.

Top 10 Film Noir | Metacinema
List of Shame | The Rewatch List

"no one ever leaves a star"

well here I am leaving five of them

This movie is about every writer’s worst nightmare: getting killed with a gun

I 👏 AM 👏 BIG 👏👏 ITS 👏 THE PICTURES 👏 THAT 👏 GOT 👏 SMALL 👏👏👏👏👏💁💁💯🔥🔥😈😤💯👅💅💅🤗💵💸😩👌👌

they don't make beds shaped like old timey ships anymore, huh

Norma Desmond’s eyes.

Norma Desmond’s voice.

Norma Desmond’s expressions.

Norma Desmond’s movements.

Norma Desmond’s emotion.

Norma Desmond’s monologues.

Norma Desmond. 

In short, Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond is one of the most complex and rich characters ever brought to screen. She is an all-time film staple. Truly a gem. I loved every second of this.

Norma Desmond AKA primitive sugar mommy