The Final Scene

[NORMA, spoken]
Joe! Joe!

[JOE, spoken]
Come on in

[BETTY]
What's going on, Joe?
Why am I so scared?
What was that woman saying?
She sounded so weird
I don't understand

Please, can you tell me what's happening?
You said you loved me tonight
Shall I just go?
Say something, Joe

[JOE]
Have some pink champagne and caviar
When you go visit with a star
The hospitality is stellar

[BETTY]
So this is where you're living?

[JOE]
Yes, it's quite a place, sleeps seventeen
Eight sunken tubs, a movie screen
A bowling alley in the cellar

[BETTY]
I didn't come to see a house, Joe

[JOE]
Sunset Boulevard
Cruise the Boulevard
Win yourself a Hollywood palazzo
Sunset Boulevard
Mythic Boulevard
Valentino danced on that terrazzo

[BETTY]
Who's it belong to?

[JOE]
Just look around you

[BETTY]
That's Norma Desmond

[JOE]
Right on the money
That's Norma Desmond
That's Norma Desmond
That's Norma Desmond
That's Norma Desmond

[BETTY]
Why did she call me?

[JOE]
Give you three guesses

It's the oldest story in the book
Come see the taker being took
The world is full of Joes and Normas
Older woman, very well-to-do
Meets younger man, the standard cue
For two mechanical performers

[BETTY]
Just pack your things and let's go

[JOE]
You mean all my things?
Have you gone mad?
Leave all these things I've never had?
Leave this luxurious existence?

You want me to face that one-room hell
That Murphy bed, that rancid smell
Go back to living on subsistence?

It's no time to begin a new life
Now I've finally made a perfect landing
I'm afraid there's no room for a wife
Not unless she's uniquely understanding
You should go back to Artie and marry the fool
And you'll always be welcome to swim in my pool

[BETTY, spoken]
I can't look at you any more, Joe

(BETTY leaves)

[NORMA, spoken]
Thank you. Thank you, Joe! Thank you! Thank you! What are you doing, Joe? You're not leaving me?

[JOE, spoken]
Yes, I am, Norma

[NORMA, spoken]
You can't! Max!

[JOE]
It's been a bundle of laughs
And thanks for the use of the trinkets
A little ritzy for the copy desk back in Dayton

And there's something you ought to know
I want to do you this favor
They'll never shoot that hopeless script of yours
They only wanted your car

[NORMA]
That's a lie! They still want me!
What about all my fan-mail?

[JOE]
It's Max who writes you letters
Your audience has vanished
They left when you weren't looking
Nothing's wrong with being fifty
Unless you're acting twenty

[NORMA, spoken]
I am the greatest star of them all

[JOE, spoken]
Goodbye, Norma

[NORMA]
No one ever leaves a star

[NORMA shoots JOE.]

[REPORTER, spoken]
And as dawn breaks over the murder house, Norma Desmond, famed star of yesteryear, is in a state of complete mental shock

[NORMA]
This was dawn -
I don't know why I'm frightened -
Silent music starts to play -
Happy New Year, darling
If you're with me, next year will be -
Next year will be -
They bring in his head on a silver tray
She kisses his mouth
She kisses his mouth
She kisses his mouth -
Mad about the boy -
They'll say Norma's back at last

[MAX, spoken]
Madame, the cameras have arrived

[NORMA]
Max! Where am I?

[MAX]
This is the staircase of the palace
And they're waiting for your dance

[NORMA]
Of course
Now I remember
I was so frightened I might fall

[MAX]
You are the greatest star of all!

[MAX, spoken]
Lights! Cameras! Action!

[NORMA]
When he scorned me I
Knew he'd have to die
Let me kiss his severed head
Compromise or death
He fought to his last breath
He never had in him to surrender
Just like me, he never could
Surrender

[NORMA, spoken]
I can't go on with the scene! I'm too happy! May I say a few words, Mister DeMille? I can't tell you how wonderful it is to back in this studio making a picture. I promise you - I will never desert you again. This is my life. It always will be. There's nothing else. Just us. And the cameras. And all you wonderful people, out there in the dark. And now, Mister DeMille, I am ready for my close-up

[NORMA]
This time I'm staying
I'm staying for good
I'll be back where I was born to be
With one look I'll be me