Fifth session of the film programme Um Filme Falado: Os Temas de Oliveira, with conception and moderation by Anabela Mota Ribeiro. This film programme is dedicated to several themes which are present in Manoel de Oliveira's oevre. This film session explores the theme The Passage of Time, with the screening of Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950), followed by a conversation with the artist Adriana Molder and writer Patrícia Portela, moderated by Anabela Mota Ribeiro

THE PASSAGE OF TIME

6 JUL | SAT | 17h00

SUNSET BOULEVARD

Billy Wilder | USA | 1950 | 110’

With: Adriana Molder (artist) and Patrícia Portela (writer)

One of the best examples of Billy Wilder's juggling with comedy and film noir, Sunset Boulevard explores the liaison between Joe Gillis, a failed screenwriter, and Norma Desmond, an equally decadent former silent movie star, still too caught up in her own fantasies to realize that. Desperately needing money, Joe accepts the job of writing a script for a film to serve as comeback for Norma, but their proccess only drowns them into a world devoid of reality. The film's black comedy tone becomes more apparent by the unexpected presence of other real-life figures from the silent era, namely the supporting role of Erich von Stroheim, as well as cameos from Cecil B. DeMille, Hedda Hopper or Buster Keaton (playing themselves). Sunset Boulevard is a sour meditation on Hollywood's star system and on the cruelty of an industry in permanent acceleration, where novelty quickly turns obsolete.