Bring on the tough stuff. There’s not just one right answer.
- Why does Joe accept Norma's gifts and agree to become her lover? Does it give him any happiness?
- Why does Joe reveal his relationship with Norma to Betty and tell her to leave and marry Artie?
- Does Norma actually love Joe? How can you tell?
- Why does Max von Mayerling stay with Norma and feed her delusions? What's in it for him, and what is it that continues to attract him to her?
- How does having a dead man narrate the movie change how we might otherwise perceive the story? More to the point: How is that even possible?
- Even though he seems jaded and knowing, does Joe buy into any of the same Hollywood illusions that possess Norma? If so, which ones?
- Do you think that Sunset Boulevard's vision of Hollywood has truth to it today? What are some parallels you can think of?
- What does Sunset Boulevard say about the ways in which celebrity affects people—both the celebrities themselves and the people who admire them?