How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Sunset Boulevard.
Quote #1
JOE: A murder has been reported from one of those great big houses in the ten thousand block. You'll read all about it in the late editions, I'm sure. You'll get it over your radio, and see it on television, because an old-time star is involved, one of the biggest. 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…
I'll tell it to you straight, says Joe. Right away, Joe tells us that the Hollywood tabloids are going to distort the story of his murder, presenting us with one of the movie's major points—Hollywood is full of illusions. Since Joe is dead when we meet him, and probably doesn't have that much interest in telling us lies, we can presume his version of events is closer to the truth.
Quote #2
JOE: Only asking. I didn't know you were planning a comeback.
NORMA: I hate that word. It is a return. A return to the millions of people who have never forgiven me for deserting the screen.
Even back in 1950, when the movie came out (and the movie business had only really existed for less than forty years—the first Hollywood studio was built on Sunset in 1913), the "comeback" was already a thing. Today we have numerous examples of old, apparently washed-up or addicted actors cleaning up and returning to triumph later in life. But Norma thinks that a "comeback" is a lousy term because she can't admit that she ever stopped being famous—so that's why it has to be a "return."
Quote #3
MAX: Madame's doctor. She has moments of melancholy. There have been some suicide attempts.
JOE: Uh-huh?
MAX: We have to be very careful. No sleeping pills, no razor blades. We shut off the gas in her bedroom.
JOE: Why? Her career? She got enough out of it. She's not forgotten. She still gets those fan letters.
MAX: I wouldn't look too closely at the postmarks.
The fact that Norma keeps trying to kill herself indicates that she is aware that her delusions are really delusions. Max thinks he's helping her by feeding those delusions with the fake fan letters, but evidently it's not encouraging any enduring stability in Norma.