It's a deadset cinematic classic, so I must have seen Sunset Boulevard half a dozen times, but I only just realised that poor crazy old Norma Desmond is only supposed to be in her early fifties.
To be fair, Gloria Swanson was actually about that age at the time the movie was filmed, but was definitely made up further to appear as a decrepit old hag. And it suggests its only been a relatively short time between her heyday as a Hollywood star and her later gloomy and gothic madness.
It's also a bit rough to suggest she would be so marginalised at such an early age. Hollywood hasn't got much better at treating female film stars well, and there are many fine woman actors who are put out to the pasture at a painfully young age, but Norma is meant to be a legend, and it would be like saying Nicole Kidman has nothing further to add, because she's a similar age.
Sunset Boulevard is a fable about fame and fortune, but to be forgotten like that after such a short period of time and marginalized is the harshest lesson of all.
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