15 Greatest Ending Lines In Film History
4. All Right, Mr. DeMille, I'm Ready For My Close-Up - Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Billy Wilder strikes again, this time with a dark comedy-drama about an aging former movie star, Norma Desmond, who dreams of making a great return to the screen but spends her days losing her grip on reality in her large mansion.
Befriending a struggling screenwriter who she later kills in a moment of madness, Norma's descent into complete insanity is methodical, tragically amusing, and comes to an end when the police and an army of reporters arrive to bring her to justice.
Unfortunately, by the time they arrive she has been completely consumed by her grand fantasy life, and seeing all the people in her house she believes she's shooting her next big movie, saying to her trusted butler Max:
“All right, Mr.
DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.”
This line, which is followed by a surreal fade-out, cements Norma's fall from grace and hammers home just how lost and disillusioned she has become. It's quite funny thanks to Gloria Swanson wonderfully over-the-top performance, but overall it's hard to hear the line without considering Norma's life to be a tragedy.