A perfect film that would be my second suggestion for the archetypal noir after Double Indemnity. Billy Wilder directs with John F. Seitz doing cinematography. We have one of the most famous openings of any movie: a man face down in a swimming pool with cops fishing him out and press taking pictures. The next shot from the bottom of the pool looks up at him. His shocked face and wavy hair underwater doesn't quite convince us that this is Joe Gills (William Holden), the protagonist doing voice-over narration. If you aren't following very closely, it's easy to miss and assume somebody else ends up in this pool.

Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond may be the most iconic female character of cinema. Everything about this movie is almost meta, as the kids would say today. Like the character she plays, Gloria Swanson was an actual silent film star—all real photos of the actress from the 20s decorate the interior of her mansion. The silent film shown in her private theater is Queen Kelly, a real movie directed by Erich von Stroheim who plays the butler in this movie. It's the film that flopped and sent Swanson into obscurity. Stroheim's butler in the movie is an ex-director and Norma Desmond's ex-husband. He venerates her so much that he stopped directing and became her servant. The actor Stroheim himself had as much mystique and a similar downfall as does the butler character he's playing.

Real actors and Hollywood figures are mentioned as if this is a real-life account. Cecille B. DeMille plays himself directing a real movie, Samson and Delilah. Sunset Boulevard has a documentary quality within a noir framework. It's all layers upon layers of real life nuggets and commentary on authentic Hollywood. The screenplay gave us some of the best lines in film history. "I am big, it's the pictures that got small." And of course "Alright Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup." Swanson is larger than life, her acting gives her so much depth that we can find her ridiculous, funny, pitiful, intelligent, and sympathetic, as she succumbs to increasing madness. She belongs in the pantheon of great female characters across literature and film alike.