Deep Dive: Analysing The Opening Sequence of Sunset Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard's 1950 opening sequence, brought to life by Billy Wilder, is not just a captivating introduction to a classic film noir, but a striking commentary on Hollywood's darker side. It elegantly uses imagery, music, and dialogue to set a haunting tone for the complex narrative about fame, vanity, and the blurred line between reality and illusion.

You may also want to check out our Ultimate Guide to Sunset Boulevard here for a complete analysis of its themes, authorial intent and more.
 

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“Yes. This is Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California”, says Joe Gillis, from his grave. The opening scene to the 1950 film noir Sunset Boulevard by Billy Wilder does not take up much of the film’s runtime; but its boastful use of imagery, music, and dialogue perfectly set the tone for a dark story about the vanity of fame and celebrity, as well as the blurred line between reality and illusion. 

The film opens with the logo of Paramount Pictures, a mountain surrounded by stars, as the original score by Franz Waxman soars to envelop the images in a foreboding atmosphere. This early image of the studio logo taking up the entire frame cautions the audience that what is to be unfolded is fiction. Not only so, but a work of fiction from a Hollywood studio that criticises the studio system in Hollywood. Through only the very first image of the film, Sunset Boulevard has already put a strong emphasis on the theme of illusion and reality. The black-and-white image communicates the light and darkness that are constant motifs in film noirs. It slowly tilts down to reveal the painted letters on a pavement spelling out ‘SUNSET BLVD.’, the name of a major street in Hollywood and the stylised title of the film. Then, the camera pulls out and tracks across the asphalt of the street, signifying its importance as an entity representing the allure of the Hollywood lifestyle. The haunting image is accompanied by the opening credits. The names of the cast and crew fade in and out on the street, in the same font as the painted street name. This symbolises the members of the movie-making team behind this project having been inducted into the soil of Hollywood, but their fading-in-and-out suggests the short-lived relevance of those who work for the filmmaking industry. 

As the opening credits finish, the camera tilts up as in dollies backwards to reveal, in a distance, police cars blaring their sirens into view. The sirens join with blasts of trumpet and drums from the original soundtrack. The audience is then introduced to the film's narrator, who confirms the location and time of the setting. The monologue also reveals that the police shown rushing to the scene are the homicide squad, raising the stakes for the drama. This revelation coincides with a quick whip-pan of the camera, signifying and foreshadowing sudden twists the story will consist of. 

What follows are shots, dissolving into each other, of the police and newspapermen traversing through the Hollywood neighbourhood. This technique of establishing a location through cross-dissolving images is a signature of writer-director Billy Wilder, seen in his previous noir flicks. The detail demonstrates Wilder’s auteurship of Sunset Boulevard, claiming trademark of the story as an attempt to rebut the executive-owned Hollywood studio system. The voice-over also reveals that there has been a murder in “one of the great big houses in the 10,000 block”, providing a juxtaposition between an ideal living arrangement and a deathly crime. This is an early contribution to the demonstration of the Hollywood dream machine’s glamour having a large and foreboding shadow of nightmares. Before the authorities are seen arriving at the scene, the narrator clues the viewers in on some precursors of the event. “You’ll read about it in the latest editions, I’m sure. You’ll get it over your radio and see it on television.” This quote suggests the reach of mass media, which film is a part of, as well as the importance of the situation depicted, setting the audience up for an event of great gravitational force. “Because an old-timed star is involved. One of the biggest”, the narrator continues; this is an early indication of the film’s criticism of the star system in Hollywood, which relentlessly glorifies celebrities. 

As the police cars and motorcycles pull into the driveway of the mansion, the narrator continues “But before you hear it all distorted and blown out of proportion, before those Hollywood columnists get their hands on it, maybe you’d like to hear the facts. The whole truth.” This quote highlights the film’s stance in the clash between reality and fiction, siding with the truth over fabrications. However, we see the protagonist, Joe Gillis, floating dead in the mansion’s swimming pool. The decision to have a dead man narrate the film creates a darkness that follows the film from beginning to end, fitting of its noir classification. Its impossibility also renders the statement of the following story being “the whole truth” a lie, again underlining the blurry borders between what is real and what is not. This choice also explores the concept of fatalism, letting the audience know the inevitable end affects the way the story is perceived, including its credibility and positioning the audience to create illusions of themselves in hope of his escape or anticipation of his demise. 

The narrator introduces his dead self as “Nobody important, really.” and “Just a movie writer with a couple of B-pictures to his credit”. This self-patronising statement suggests Hollywood's disregard and lack of respect for screenwriters, as the audience later learns the capabilities of the film’s protagonist and the toxic system he is trapped in. A low-angle shot from the bottom of the pool gives the viewers a clear look of the dead protagonist’s floating body, highlighting the grim tragedy that is going to be told. The narrator, with a hint of regret in his voice, reveals in the third person that he always wanted a pool but “the price turned out to be a little high”. The quiet lament metaphorically illuminates the high toll and demand of the dangerous and intoxicating Hollywood dream machine, as well as a vanity in consumerism. The film then goes back six months, chronicling the events leading up to the protagonist’s doom. 

The prologue of Billy Wilder’s classic noir Sunset Boulevard, even with its short length, manages to encapsulate the film’s darkness, its criticism of Hollywood, and the difficulty in differing between what is real and what is fiction.

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