Norma Desmond
(Gloria Swanson) has withdrawn to her Gothic Beverly Hills mansion, off Sunset Boulevard, nursing dreams of a return to stardom while her grip on reality grows ever more tenuous over the years. Her one companion is Max (Erich von Stroheim), her butler, former director and we later learn, first husband, who serves as her protector and shields her from the outside world. Because he is still in love with her, he tells her she is still a star, and cuts her off from the news media to keep her from realizing that she has been completely forgotten by her beloved public.
One day Joe Gillis (William Holden), a young, unemployed screenwriter arrives at Desmond’s with a flat tire on his 1946 Plymouth after being chased by two repo men. He parks the car inside the garage of the mansion and is summoned by Norma to the front door. She confuses him for an undertaker for her just
