Joe Gillis was representative more of the average person. He wasn't
valiant, only helping out the aging Gloria when she offered huge sums
of money, wasn't incredibly smart, he admittedly described himself as
"a hack writer", but in the end was able to break away from his vices
as we all wish we could (it did cause his death however). As for Max,
I think he loved her not as a human, but as the actress he made her to
be. He could let her fall, even if the world wanted her to. So instead
he locked her away inside the house and in her own delusions. Finally,
"believable" is redefine not what this movie is. It is an obviously
fictitious story with overblown character, but the thoughts and
feelings of them are what we relate to and what makes the film so
effective.

--- In thr334movies@yahoogroups.com, "Melissa" <MelissaDaleWW@...> wrote:
>
> I was totally creeped out by this movie. Gloria Swanson did a
> wonderful job of giving Norma that crazy eyed gaze that makes me want
> to shudder and shrink away. I didn't connect that much with Joe
> Gillis, he seemed kind of flat to me and very dumb for sticking around
> as long as he did.
>
> Also I didn't find it believable that Max would stick around playing
> butler to Norma when he basically made her career. Sure he loved her,
> but in reality would he really just sit around and watch as the woman
> he loved toyed around with other young men.
>
> While watching this film, I kept wondering if this was Stephen King's
> inspiration for writing Misery. The whole idea of keeping someone
> under lock and key to write you the story of your dreams is a very
> chilling idea.
>