Cred ca era programat la Telecinemateca, eu sa fi avut vreo 10- 12 ani. Probabil ca l-am vazut prea devreme, pentru ca am ramas cu un fel de frica – frica de casa enorma si sumbra, frica de Gloria Swanson a.k.a Norma Desmond. Ori poate ca am avut un fel de realizare prematura si nedeslusita asupra naturii trecatoare a frumusetii si succesului, o falsa premonitie a singuratatii innebunitoare, care iti face urechile sa zumzaie si mintea sa o ia razna.
Mi l-am amintit prin filmuletul celor de la The New York Times si va ofer cateva dintre replicile memorabile ale filmului din 1950 al lui Billy Wilder, cu Gloria Swanson, William Holden si Eric von Stroheim in rolurile principale.
Joe Gillis (tanarul scenarist, jucat de Holden): You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.
Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) : I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.
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Tot Norma Desmond, despre filmele mute:We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces!
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Norma Desmond: No-one ever leaves a star. That’s what makes one a star.
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Joe Gillis: I’m not an executive, just a writer.
Norma Desmond: You are… writing words, words, more words! Well, you’ll make a rope of words and strangle this business! But there’ll be a microphone there to catch the last gurgles, and Technicolor to photograph the red, swollen tongues!
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Joe Gillis: Norma, you’re a woman of 50, now grow up. There’s nothing tragic about being 50, not unless you try to be 25.
