Sunset Boulevard

1950110 minutesApproved

5.2

Arcplot Score

📝 Unconventional

Unverified

⭐ 8.4IMDb

🍅 98%Rotten Tomatoes

Ⓜ️ 94/100Metacritic

🎬 8.3TMDb

📊 3.1Popularity

🏆Won 3 Oscars. 21 wins & 20 nominations total

Genre: Drama, Film-Noir

Directed by: Billy Wilder

In Hollywood of the 50's, the obscure screenplay writer Joe Gillis is not able to sell his work to the studios, is full of debts and is thinking in returning to his hometown to work in an office. While trying to escape from his creditors, he has a flat tire and parks his car in a decadent mansion in Sunset Boulevard. He meets the owner and former silent-movie star Norma Desmond, who lives alone with her butler and driver Max Von Mayerling. Norma is demented and believes she will return to the cinema industry, and is protected and isolated from the world by Max, who was her director and husband in the past and still loves her. Norma proposes Joe to move to the mansion and help her in writing a screenplay for her comeback to the cinema, and the small-time writer becomes her lover and gigolo. When Joe falls in love for the young aspirant writer Betty Schaefer, Norma becomes jealous and completely insane and her madness leads to a tragic end.

Box Office

Budget:$1.8M

Revenue:$5.0M

Profit:$3.2M

Arcplot Score Breakdown

Beat Timing Precision5/10

Emotional Arc Impact5.5/10

Thematic Consistency5/10

Overall Score5.2/10

Beat Sheet

15 plot points

Opening Image

1 min

Theme Stated

5 min

Set-Up

15 min

Catalyst

25 min

Debate

35 min

Break Into Two

45 min

B Story

55 min

Fun and Games

65 min

Midpoint

75 min

Bad Guys Close In

85 min

All Is Lost

95 min

Dark Night of the Soul

100 min

Break Into Three

105 min

Finale

108 min

Final Image

110 min

Emotional Arc

+100-10

Plot Points

Opening Image

1 min

Dead body floating in the swimming pool. Tone of mystery, noir, and foreboding established.

Theme Stated

5 min

Narration begins: Hollywood illusion vs. reality. Theme of fame, obsession, and decline introduced.

Set-Up

15 min

Joe Gillis, struggling screenwriter, introduced. Meets Norma Desmond, faded silent film star. Stakes of career and survival established.

Catalyst

25 min

Norma invites Joe to write her comeback script. Joe moves into her mansion. New world and stakes introduced.

Debate

35 min

Joe debates moral cost: exploit Norma for money or help her genuinely? Tension and ethical dilemma established.

Break Into Two

45 min

Joe agrees to write the script, fully entering Norma’s world. Crossing threshold into obsession, illusion, and glamour.

B Story

55 min

Romantic subplot with Betty Schaefer. Contrast between real love and Norma’s fantasy world. Emotional stakes deepen.

Fun and Games

65 min

Joe writes the script, interacts with Norma, explores mansion. Dark humor, deception, and tension play out.

Midpoint

75 min

Norma’s delusion escalates. Joe’s involvement deepens. Stakes shift from professional to personal danger.

#10

Bad Guys Close In

85 min

Joe attempts to escape Norma’s control. Her obsession intensifies. Emotional tension and danger peak.

#11

All Is Lost

95 min

Joe plans to leave. Norma finds out. Illusion shatters, and confrontation looms.

#12

Dark Night of the Soul

100 min

Joe reflects on Hollywood, deception, and fate. Tension and dread at emotional climax.

#13

Break Into Three

105 min

Joe attempts final escape from Norma’s world. Ready for confrontation and resolution.

#14

Finale

108 min

Confrontation ends tragically. Norma’s fantasy consumes her. Joe’s fate sealed. Emotional and narrative climax.

#15

Final Image

110 min

Norma alone, descending into madness. Illusion vs. reality theme emphasized. Hollywood’s dark underbelly revealed.