Before Sunset

I have had at least three friends and/or readers recommend this movie to me. I finally got around to seeing it and I'm glad I did. The same people who recommended Before Sunset, the sequel to Before Sunrise, said they saw the sequel before the first movie and liked the sequel better. I still have to see Before Sunrise to see if I agree.

Written and directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused), this sequel picks up 9 years later where Before Sunrise left off. In Before Sunrise, two strangers (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) spend a day in Vienna connecting over a long conversation and pledge to meet up again six months later. In Before Sunset, they meet nine years later in Paris and re-connect over another long conversation.


Jesse (Hawke) is an American author who wrote a book based on his experience in Vienna with Celine, a French environmental activist. They meet again when Jesse is in Paris for a book signing at Celine's favourite bookstore. They have one long conversation about everything in their lives. They reminisce about the night they spent in Vienna and talk about their lives now and what happened in between. They also discover that they've both thought a lot about each other.

I loved this film because it's one long conversation, but it's done so smoothly that you don't think about the fact that they do not stop talking for the entire film. It's shot pretty much in real time. It feels European in that way and feels like you are on the journey with them. It was shot in 15 days and Hawke and Delpy helped to write the film.


The characters are also so real and human. It's also cool that they connect so well. They spend such a short amount of time together, yet the conversation winds its way around so many different subjects and levels of intimacy. They laugh a lot, but also disagree on things. I think the two movies went over so well with audiences because it presents that "what if?" dilemma that a lot of people must have. I'm sure everybody has someone that they connected so well with, but it just didn't happen and you're left wondering "what would have happened if things went differently?" The films give people a chance to experience that.

I won't give away the end, but both films end ambiguously. I do wonder though if they were together all the time if that would change things. Could they continue their long, deep conversations all the time? Would that connection still be there after a few years? I didn't want the film to end so soon and I wanted more. Also, how much did fate play a part? I had my palms read recently and the palmist (is that their title?) said I was supposed to have gotten married sometime between 24 and 26, but that it wasn't meant to last. I was 24 when I got married...and it didn't last. I think it's the same case as in Les Enfants du Paradis in that fate is the one that does the betraying. I'm going to try to get Before Sunrise this week so I can watch the original. Apparently a lot of people saw the two films backwards (sequel before the original). I love this quote....

Celine: "Memory's a wonderful thing if you don't have to deal with the past."

More ramblings to come....(I swear)....