Sunset Boulevard 4K 1950 Ultra HD 2160p

A struggling screenwriter named Joe Gillis meets an aging Hollywood movie star. This fateful encounter leads to fatal consequences and death—we, like the main character, feel the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads and sense ominous hints of doom.

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The fading and loss of popularity in the artistic community are perceived more acutely than in any other. The desire for revenge is inherent in human nature, and when it comes to silent film stars, it is amplified a hundredfold. Yesterday's empress of the silver screen dreamed of stopping the relentless flow of time in the glass hourglass of her life, but it continued to slip away insidiously. The muse of a famous director was not even offered a position as a mentor to share her secrets of success with young talents — she was simply kicked out of the film studio and consigned to oblivion. Accustomed to audience ovations and oceans of flowers, Norma Desmond found herself trapped in her own mind: she insisted that it wasn't her who had grown old, but cinema that had become trivial. Her entourage of equally washed-up actors, looking forward to their evening bridge games, only reinforced her conviction. It took the accidental intrusion of an unsuccessful screenwriter, fleeing creditors to a mansion on Sunset Boulevard, to set in motion a grand comeback.

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,” commanded the Almighty, but what about a woman who had elevated herself to a pedestal? Norma wandered in a realm of illusions, still young, fresh, and passionate, accompanied by her loyal butler through the alleys of dreams that fit neatly into the dilapidated mansion. The tragedy of an outstanding actress is presented by Billy Wilder in a satirical vein. The born comedian played on the eternally relevant theme of becoming a has-been with theatrical effect, designed to arouse sympathy as well as condemnation. The story is presented in such a way that the viewer is put in a mocking mood just by watching the writer Joe Gillis floating upside down in someone else's swimming pool. And he hasn't even told the corpses in the morgue about the circumstances of his death, as originally planned! Grotesque is everywhere, evoking mixed feelings about the spontaneous novel by a third-rate screenwriter and a star of yesteryear. The nature of the mutually beneficial collaboration, where one side gets the trappings of a luxurious life and the other gets a chance at a dream role, illustrates the mores of the bohemian world. Instead of emotional closeness, there is cynical calculation; instead of sincere participation, there is a cunning game. The outcome is known in advance, given the dénouement in the first frames. Details are more important to Wilder; it is with their help that the world of the spotlight is filled with glamour and poverty.

The face of an old movie star shines again in the spotlight, but the pounds of powder reveal the metamorphosis that has taken place. It is telling that only an old security guard and an elderly cameraman are genuinely happy to see Norma arrive at Paramount. In fact, they are the only ones who recognize her, while the young actors exclaim mockingly, “She's still alive?!” The reaction of director DeMille and the entire studio atmosphere reveal the true scale of the retired legend's misfortune. The era of sound cinema has arrived, and the former icons have fallen victim to circumstances, a merciless hurricane of change that breaks those who are inflexible. As Wilder explains, very different people move in film circles. Some have the patience, intuition, and insight to adapt, while others are left alone with a hundred portraits of themselves. Norma Desmond's case is not the most extreme, if we recall Rebecca's reaction to the wrinkles around her eyes in Daphne du Maurier's novel. The owner of the Manderley estate would have become a copy of the hostess of the house on Sunset Boulevard in twenty years. But unlike the literary beauty who embarked on an extraordinary adventure, the cinematic one turned out to be only fit for pity and condescension. What's more, the old car is more in demand than its owner! This is not even irony on Wilder's part, but cruel sarcasm, a deafening slap in the face, aimed, however, at bringing her to her senses, not pushing her over the edge.

Gloria Swanson was luckier than her character: she played the role at the turn of the 1950s. A bright star of a bygone era shone one last time. The impressive effect of Sunset Boulevard, which carved out a niche for itself in classic noir, is largely due to its autobiographical nature. Norma Desmond is a composite image of an expired prima donna, and how many of them are there? The appearance of the great comedian Buster Keaton, who pops in for a couple of moments to mutter “Pass” in embarrassment, is symbolic. A new generation always replaces the old, sometimes without giving it a chance to bid a dignified farewell to the public—nothing has changed in the seventy years since the film's premiere. And in the same way, yesterday's idol becomes an object of ridicule when he fails to notice the grandiose changes. But to submit to them does not mean turning into a caricature, and the example of Max the butler is proof of that. A true gentleman does not lose his dignity even in a lowly position, so why should a lady not be able to find herself in a different role and be forced to waste away in her boudoir?

However, Wilder does not mock every veteran of the film studios. He ridicules those who prefer the palaces of delusion to the simple realization that life is not over yet. The director of Some Like It Hot never sought to be a judge of the entire acting profession, and Sunset Boulevard is a thoughtful, instructive film where wisdom coexists with principle. Clad in an elegant, witty wrapping, they give the film immortality. An easy, ironic tone suits important things very well. Respectful treatment, if you think about it, is worthless if, at the decisive moment, you don't dare to give your loved one a cold shower of truth to protect them from the fate of a walking relic, whom everyone will remember not for their talent but for their cowardice.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (68.1 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Info Audio

#English: FLAC 1.0
#English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
#English: Dolby Digital 5.1
#German: Dolby Digital 2.0
#Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
#Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
#French: Dolby Digital 2.0
#Italian: Dolby Digital 2.0
#Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0
#Portuguese: Dolby Digital 2.0

Info Subtitles

English SDH, Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French (Metropolitan), German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (European), Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin American), Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese.