Before Sunset Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
What if you had a second chance with the one that got away?
Jesse, a writer from the US, and Celine, a Frenchwoman working for an environment protection organization, acquainted nine years ago on the train from Budapest to Vienna, meet again when Jesse arrives in Paris for a reading of his new book. As they have only a few hours until his plane leaves, they stroll through Paris, talking about their experiences, views and whether they still love each other, although Jesse is already married with a kid.
| Vernon Dobtcheff | Bookstore Manager |
| Ethan Hawke | Jesse |
| Julie Delpy | Celine |
| Rodolphe Pauly | Journalist #2 |
| Mariane Plasteig | Waitress |
| Louise Lemoine Torres | Journalist #1 |
| Diabolo | Philippe |
| Denis Evrard | Boat Attendant |
| Albert Delpy | Man at Grill |
| Marie Pillet | Woman in Courtyard |
| Richard Linklater |
8.20 out of 10 (13721 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Funny...
posted on 26 Aug 2009What saved this cliché riddled movie for me:The exchange rate of pesos to dollars and the Spanish subtitles. I saw this movie as a matinée in Mexico.I saw the original and thought it was much better. The ending was a lot healthier too. You are left with hope from the original. This one leaves you with the idea that they are most likely going to commit adultery. I don't think this is a great start to a new relationship; even if they have a history.I guess this movie proves yet one more cliché: we can't always go back.
Yak yak yak...
posted on 26 Aug 2009First of all, I'm just a little bit amazed that this movie is in the top 250 movies of IMDb.'Before Sunset' continues the gabfest that Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke had in 'Before Sunrise'. Of course, they're older now, they promised to meet up when they parted the first time, they didn't, and now Delpy marches in on Hawke when he's giving a book reading in Paris. Soon, they're walking around talking about Important Things and all of that yadda yadda yadda.In all honestly, I had to stop this film because I was falling asleep. Although it significantly picked up when they were talking about their relationship, all the other mumbo-jumbo I could have did without. Although they both compliment how good they look, both look like hell here, and this was somewhat of a painful sit through.
Surely Movie Of The Year
posted on 20 Aug 2009It isn't just the incredible dialogue, it isn't just the wonderful acting from both Ethan and Julie, it isn't just the amazing scenery and cinematography and it isn't just the astonishing direction from Linklater.. it's all of those combined that produced perhaps my favorite movie of all time.The two scenes which sealed the deal for me are right at the end of the movie.. SPOILER COMING...Firstly the scene with Celine walking Jesse up the stairs to her apartment, nothing is said and the scene lasts a while.. what's so wonderful about just that is that it allows the viewer to fill in the blanks. In my mind I could tell that Celine had imagined this moment over and over since leaving Jesse in Prague and the fact that it is finally happening must be surreal.Secondly the scene where Celine is making tea and she watches Jesse walk around her apartment, looking at her possessions looking at her life, finally they aren't just two strangers. He is right there in her world and just watching him react to her pictures, music again must have been something she had imagined over the years.I can't fault this film, I really can't. As the credits rolled I turned to my fiancée and said... "perfect".
A magnificent follow up to a beautiful picture
posted on 14 Aug 2009This follow-up to the cult hit 'Before Sunrise' takes place nine years after the original masterpiece. The wisdom of making a sequel nine years later to a film that doesn't really need a sequel is questionable. Or at least it would be, if this film was anything less than brilliant. While the first film depicted an energetic and youthful romance between two young people; this sequel is a more mature tale, all about reflection. Before Sunset plays out almost as a tribute to the one night that the characters spent together in the first film, and analyses what happened to them after those events. The film takes in themes of missed opportunity and the effect that time has on character. Just like the first film, time is of the essence again and we follow Jesse, now the writer of an international best seller who meets up with Celine again, this time in Paris. The two take to the streets and begin discussing their relationship with each other, with their respective partners and how life has been treating them in the last nine years.The tone of this film is very different to 'Before Sunrise' as the characters are now older and wiser and have lost some of that reckless stupidity that made the first film such a delight to observe. The anecdotes that the characters profess to one another takes a worldlier stance, and this allows the characters to revel in their newfound maturity and also develop even further than they did in the original film. In my opinion, this sequel is not as great as the first film. It comes down to personal preference in the end, but I preferred the higher energy exchanges of Before Sunrise to the more mature reflections in this film. That's not to say that Celine and Jesse have completely matured into well-rounded adults, on the contrary in fact; the immature irresponsibility that the characters once revelled in still remains, and this comes to a head at the film's conclusion.Amazingly enough, in spite of the fact that it's nine years since their first outing as Celine and Jesse; both Ethan Hawke and Julie Deply have managed to step back into their characters, and have once again achieved a glove-like fit. Julie Deply in particular is incredible this time round. There's a scene in the back of a car when she explodes into a mass of insecurity that is one of the most heartfelt showings of releasing pent-up emotions that I've ever seen on screen. Paris provides a new setting for the characters to walk around, and it makes for one that is even better than Vienna was in Before Sunrise. The city is beautiful, that's elementary, but it's the way that Linklater captures the life going on around our characters that really makes it special. While the two talk, people chat away on mobile phones, walk their dogs and drive their cars and the life around the two characters creates a wonderful atmosphere.You really need to see Before Sunrise before seeing this follow up in order to appreciate the tones and the beauty of this picture. Of course, you need to see both films anyway as they're essential viewing; so what are you waiting for?
A Magical, Elegiac Continuation Of "Before Sunrise"
posted on 04 Aug 2009Notice that I said "continuation", as opposed to "sequel", which is mostly a Hollywood term applied to cashing in on the success of an original film. There is nothing "commercial" about Richard Linklater's inventive, playful, wistful, and ultimately piercing story of two people many of us felt a deep cinematic bond with in the first film. For everyone who was content and beguiled by the aching ambiguity of the ending of "Before Sunrise", who felt no need to explore what became of Jesse and Celine, I think it's safe to say that our hearts still yearned to see them together. What "Before Sunset" does so beautifully is to show the effect of time on these two soul mates, how young love and youthful idealism have given way to life's weary compromises and bittersweet memories of what might have been. The torrent of glorious dialogue is back, only this time it's as remarkable for what is not said as much as what should be said. Jesse and Celine circle around each other with small talk, a rudimentary update of their lives in the intervening 9 years that slowly, irrevocably, and anxiously builds up to confessional regret. To see Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy again 9 years later is like running into two dear old friends we haven't seen in a long time. Their rapport and chemistry together is extraordinary. To those who feared this film would somehow diminish the specialness of the original, it feels like an unequivocal homecoming. And the true miracle is it leaves you wanting more. Something tells me that many of us will never get enough of Jesse and Celine, and in that creative spirit, I'm sure Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy have Truffaut's "Antoine Doinel" films with Jean-Pierre Leaud, and Michael Apted's "7-up" series well in mind. For the time being, we have this wondrous little film to be thankful for.
Simplistically Original
posted on 27 Jul 2009First to begin with , I was personally enthralled with the role Ethan Hawke played in the award winning film 'Training Day'.I developed a certain penchant for his character in that very film and his method of acting in general.And so as soon as I heard about this movie (mind you i never heard of the first one in 1995) i immediately got it. Amidst all the chocolaty romantic bull which usually hits the screen this movie was by far THE BEST ROMANTIC FILM i have seen i.e. even if you can categorise the film as a romantic one. In my opinion Richard Linklater (Director) has done a beautiful job in maintaining a parody with 'Unity of Time and Place ', which is usually a parameter in theatre.The film more than elaborating romance between the two characters explores the helplessness of them both . Separated by time and distance the conversations between Hawke and Deply are a glaring reality of society today. Over the past 9 odd years both seemed to have moved poles apart in terms of lifestyles as Hawke is married (rather unhappily i feel) while Deply is more freelancing than anything else. But what connects the two of them on screen so well is their underlying hate for a 'submissive relationship'. Much more than the meandering conversations the location chosen and shot is PERFECT. The stereotypical characters of Jesse and Celine have give original performances, free of any acting guidelines. At the end of the movie a feeling of nostalgia, hits you whether of the past you have already experienced , or the future which may very soon be your past!.Brilliant script and memorable acting makes this movie a must watch.
Really regret seeing it!
posted on 27 Jul 2009"Before Sunrise" was one of my all-time favourite movies, but when I heard they were making a sequel, I was nervous. The open ending of the first installment was so note-perfect in leaving people free to draw their own conclusions about what happened that I didn't want it to be ruined. As such, I delayed seeing this as long as possible.I should have delayed longer. Much longer. Like, forever.Simply put, "Before Sunset" takes a couple of intriguing, interesting, fully-drawn characters and turns them into insufferable cads, caught up in their own memories and having achieved nothing of note in their lives in ten years. It takes a beautiful, sweet chance romantic encounter and turns it into the cornerstone of these characters' lives. And it tries to make us believe that there's nothing better out there to hope for, ever. What a thoroughly depressing message! What injustice to these characters, who deserved a whole lot better! Of all the scenarios I ever imagined for these two, this was not it. The first movie was great because it was about two people meeting by chance and truly connecting. But in the second movie, we're led to believe that since then, neither of them has managed to connect with anyone else. Both are in unsatisfying relationships when they meet up again - that part is not that hard to believe. But what is depressing in a creepy stalker-ish sort of way is that Hawke's character has devoted years of his life to writing about Delpy's, and that Delpy's character has devoted a significant amount of time to seeking out Hawke's character for a reunion. Too, the movie downplays the thorny issue of marital infidelity and home-wrecking; people rooting for Hawke and Delpy to get back together should stop romanticizing everything and take a good hard look at the fact that they're cheering for a guy to leave (or at least cheat on) his wife and ditch his kid for a girl he had a one-night stand with nine years earlier. As for Delpy, she's writing and recording songs about a guy SHE had a one-night stand with. And neither of them quite realize the irony - that they're throwing away everything real in their lives in order to chase a fantasy that never really existed. The first movie was great precisely because the characters were practical about the circumstances of their meeting; they accepted the fact that their connection was strong but brief, and that long-distance relationships don't work, and that the future is unpredictable. But neither took their own advice - instead, it seems they have been living hollowed half-existences for the past nine years, just waiting to find each other again. And when they do, what exactly do they find? Is it realistic to think that these two will get along once they try to spend more than a single day together? It's all too obvious that they have nothing in common - even from the first movie, it's obvious that they differ politically, philosophically and culturally, and that the only reason they have such a great relationship is because it only lasts a night. By the second movie, they have grown even further apart on all those issues, plus they each carry around idealized, imaginary versions of one another that they have invented over a nine-year period and that will be impossible to live up to. Relationships - real relationships - are hard work, full of ups and downs, but they're *real*. What these two have isn't real. What they have is, well, just plain sad.If you haven't seen it yet, I strongly urge you not to, because once you have seen it, there's no going back. These characters deserve so much better - just use your imagination.
Awesome and not letting it slip away
posted on 17 Jul 2009Nine years ago, I watched the first movie "Before Sunrise" in Singapore and it became my all time favourite movie. I always wonder what have happened to Celine (Delpy) and Jesse (Hawke), and all the questions about whether they had met up six months later and one night stand still lingered. I could not forget the dynamic relationship between these characters and their thoughts about life, death, their friends and their relationships, although mundane but brings out the extraordinary side in everyone of us. Nine years later, I am now living in UK. Whenever I screened the DVD for this movie, the college room was always full. I found a lot of friends who loved this movie. By the time when I was told that the sequel is out and it's entitled "Before Sunset". I could not believe it, and it's like the Tolkien fans waiting to watch the trilogy. I have just watched the movie today, and realized that the characters have evolved. The way which they viewed their relationships. There is still the magic between them. As most of the issues that came to my mind from the movie are resolved elegantly in "Before Sunset", I cannot help but feel the same way on how this movie gave me the idealism to believe in romance. I felt that Celine and Jesse have shown us that how important beautiful moments are to our lives. The conversation they had about the environment, the politics of the world and things in the movie, is so much like what I would experience being in their age.Although the ending is not what I expected, I still think that the maturity and chemistry between these characters will live with me as I grow. I hope to hear from them when we all reached 40s. This is a movie which grows up with the audience, and every time you revisit it with a different notion of what life is all about.Definitely without doubt 10/10.
Artificial, unrealistic, even boring... Please read why.
posted on 17 Jul 2009Am i the only one who doesn't find this movie "one of the best ever filmed"?! "Amazing acting, incredible story, perfect chemistry, true love..." Did these people actually watch the movie? First of all, the acting was too artificial (though i'm a big fan of Ethan Hawke, who played in two true masterpieces: "The dead poets society" and "Gattaca") and i'm not sure if it's the actors or the director to blame for that.About the story/plot. Two strangers meet in a foreign country, quickly develop a perfect chemistry and instantly fall in love with each other (all in 1 day)? Give me a break. There might be only some passion, and passion caused exclusively by a new romantic environment (Vienna, Paris, what's next - Venice?!). There is even a classical case in psychology when two people meet on an emotionally exciting and romantic vacation, madly "fall in love". But even if they manage to get their relationship on a different level, date and live together in one of their home countries, they soon realize they are not really so much connected, and that all the wonderful chemistry was only due to the exciting vacation and the temporary high emotional level. A true love is when two people really know each other, care about each other, work hard and long on their relationship, share many positive and negative moments of their life with each other. And not when two strangers talk only about themselves the whole movie (did you actually notice that?)! Let's be honest: what happens on a vacation can only be characterized ether as a "one-night-stand" or maximum some attraction. I really feel sorry for people who call THIS love, for they surely have never experienced true love in their lives.And one more thing. People change over several years, and they change a lot. Those two characters could not simply remain the same and keep their mutual attraction over all those years at the same level. You have to be absolutely inexperienced in life to seriously consider this movie to be in any way a realistic love story. By the way, the same applies to the 1st movie - "Before sunrise".
Best movie of all time for me!
posted on 17 Jul 2009Firstly i would like to express my disbelief about the rating this movie has received here: an 8.0/10, and the same as 'Before Sunrise'? You've have got to be kidding me!!!! And I cannot believe that it hasn't won an Oscar either, for me this is hands down the best movie ever made in Hollywood.As for the movie, it has so many dimensions that are imperative; it is difficult to pinpoint one single aspect of the movie as the most overriding one. Yet, this movie conveys one simple message: the importance of youth. Life is only worth living when you are young at heart, it does not depend on age. Jesse and Celine are living miserably because they have forgotten what it means to be 'young', even though they are very successful in their lives. Youth is better understood by those who have passed (and lived through it)it than those who are living it. Love is better understood by people who have loved, and lost it. This is the simple reality, and this movie tells us that.What makes this movie far superior to its predecessor is the fact that the actors have matured, and are understanding youth/love better than they did in the first movie. This is evident by every sentence Jesse says, every look Celine gives; simply stunning. I have loved before, and lost her: i feel myself not only compatible with Jesse but Jesse himself. Everything that comes out of Jesse's mouth is what i have said to my love.As for the movie itself, the setting that it takes place in could not have been better: Paris. It is every person's fantasy to go there. The lighting is great, and everything else to. About the movie, the way it has connected the beginning to the finish is amazing. The way Celine dances in the end is exactly the same way Jesse described it in the beginning of the movie. I was extremely sad at the end of the movie, as to how little time Jesse had to capture the magic in Celine's apartment. The playing of the song was a brilliant idea, as well as how she dances in the end. Jesse's reactions in the end are precious (even though they hurt so much, when he's realizing what a life of misery he's lived in the past 9 years). He doesn't want to leave her, but life is not like that. He has a kid, wife, responsibility and everything else that he needs in his life; without the one thing he truly longs for: youth. Unfortunately, life is like that.Each and every moment that Celine and Jesse had together in this movie was a moment to savor. Unfortunately, time is of the essence and not on their side.
sunset
posted on 05 Jul 2009move more quickly because they can tell the other person what they're thinking under the guise of telling a third person. They don't have time to mess around with each other's minds. If the attraction that they feel isn't mutual, it's not like the next day things will change. They won't even see each other the next day. It's a way to be sure that they're still on the same page romantically and the scene works perfectly.There are others great tidbits--including a natural conversation about past lovers over a pinball machine, a guy playing a harpsichord, a ferris wheel ride, when they say 'goodbye' early in the evening to avoid it later--I mean, so many. Most of these scenes are edited in long, single takes, that can't help but feel realistic. There are no quick cuts in real life.I can't stress enough how everyone should see this. There is no big sex scene. At the end of the film, we're not sure what exactly happened between them and we don't know if they'll ever see each other again. There are arguments for every position. But for those few hours in Vienna, the couple do exactly what we all wish we had the courage to do.This film gets better the older I get. It is so much smarter than the other boy-meets-girl films that we've been forced to sit through in the past ten years.
best movie ever
posted on 05 Jul 2009saw this movie without knowing that there was a first one called" before sunrise". I love it and fell in love with it. It was an awesome movie...of course its up to ur imagination if they stay together or not ( like he said at the beginning bout the book). I was so surprised at the way it ended, since I did not see the first one. Now i am trying to find the first one to watch. This is the best movie I have seen in a long long time. It deeply tocuhed my heart' I know that this is kinda of a slow movie, but it is one in a lifetime movie. BEST MOVIE. BEST MOVI EVER. I am so in love with the character and the personality of all of them. Also the imagines of the town was very good.I would recommend this movie to everyone to see. With a loved one or by yourself.I watch it @ home all by myself and it was great.
Watch it with an open mind - and be seduced all over again!
posted on 03 Jul 2009I only discovered Before Sunrise quite a few years after it first came out, and absolutely loved it - the dialogue is superb, and you get so attached to Celine and Jesse that it's hard to let go at the end of the movie, without knowing what will happen...but after a while you realise that the frustrating ending allows you to imagine whatever future you wish for them - so it's a beautiful gift from the writers, the actors and the director, that you get to "own" the characters for a while longer once the credits roll....Which is why I was petrified when I found out there would be a sequel - it seemed the first movie was perfect as a stand-alone piece...Out of curiosity - OK, and also because of a minor crush on Ethan Hawke - I watched Before Sunset after all and was pleasantly surprised. Sure, you have to give up on your own romantic notions of "what happened next" - but it's lovely to meet the characters again and find out about their stories...It's a very honest account of what happens in real life and in that way, it makes the first movie even more special as well, because it stops being about the fantasy of a chance encounter, and becomes even more credible.In the end, both romantics and cynics can find something to like about Before Sunset - and fans of Before Sunrise cannot be disappointed by this sequel.
The fantastic sequel to Linklater's first masterpiece
posted on 23 Jun 2009Well, this sequel is so enjoyable, it was almost worth waiting ten years for. In a movie phenomenon, the amount of real time that passed between the films being released and the amount of time that passes in the lives of the characters between the films is the same. This time Jesse and Celine meet up in Paris. It's been ten years since the last film and ten years since they've seen each other. They are both with other people, Jesse is married with a child. He's now a published author and Celine finds him at a stop in Paris. They spend an afternoon together and their old chemistry is undeniable. This installment is even more closely tied just to the two main characters. There are no guys on a bridge or wandering gypsies this time. But, I find it just as engaging as the first and just as brilliant. Like the first film, it ends on an ambiguous note. But, also, like it's predecessor, it leaves you feeling hopeful.
Decent Premise; Terrible Film (*some spoilers)
posted on 11 Jun 2009Hitchcock's aphorism, "Film is life with the boring bits cut out" has been
contradicted by "Before Sunset" - a film with the dramatic bits cut out and nothing left but tedious blathering.The premise seems promising enough: two characters - amazingly reunited after a one night stand nine years earlier - talk for 95 minutes. They are clearly drawn to one another but have moved on in their :lives. We hang on wondering whether or not they will leave their current lives and partners and remain together, or go their separate ways once again.The film feels like an extended improvised acting exercise or a really bad soap opera scene that doesn't know when to stop. The characters blather on and on but their conversation is flat; it lacks wit or charm. We're left to stare at these two young actors jabbering about getting old: Julie Delpy looks self-consciously coy - the years have given her face a bit more interest but she's lost some of her girlish sensualness; Ethan Hawke. looks more and more like Tom Cruise, flashing his eyes and baring his enormous white teeth. Probably a master like Woody Allen could have sustained this situation with wit and intelligence. But here the actors are left to direct the show themselves; wallow in horrible, self indulgent, shallow, vacuous conversation. It's downright painful and even embarrassing to watch.
I felt I was eavesdropping the whole time!
posted on 03 Jun 2009*Possible Spoiler*This is one of those very few movies that I actually wanted to go see because of the movie itself, not because my friends want to see it or I don't know where to go on a date. I saw the first one (Before Sunrise) long time ago on TV and I was pretty impressed. It was very simple, yet sophisticated. The entire movie revolves around a never ending conversation between two strangers who met each other on a train in Europe. As the conversation flows along, two leads unravel their personalities. Well, you get the picture. Topics of the conversation centers around relationships and how interesting and ironic life can be. As the movie went on, I grew to like both characters and was hoping they could get together at the end. However ......Personally, I liked the first one slightly better, just because it's when the two character were first introduced and it seemed more complete as a movie. The second can't really stand alone. The ending of Before Sunset is a little abrupt to me. Not that I want to be spoon fed every little detail of their relationship, but a little most hints on where the future might lead would help the movie be more complete, in my opinion. I like the fact that they didn't use any background music at all throughout the entire movie, but the movie itself creates its own magic on different aspects, like the eye contacts, the recurring mannerisms of both characters, and the chemistry between them. It doesn't need music to modify itself. I dig that.I am not a fan of either actor, or even big on romance movies myself. But I like the casualness of the movie. It makes me feel that if I could ever be a date with someone, either Vienna or Paris would be the perfect location. Romance just gets oozed out naturally without being reinforced in any way. Also, this movie is so intimate. I feel like I was eavesdropping two people's conversation the whole time, watching two of them dance around each other. Anyway, it is a really good romance movie I've seen in a long time (not that I've seen thousands of them), and I recommend it to everyone who has a gentle and personal side in them.
Hello Young Lovers - Part Deux
posted on 22 May 2009I was surprised how many in the audience of "Before Sunset" had not seen the previous "Before Sunrise" as I didn't think it was possible to follow it, let alone appreciate the dialogue, stand-alone. This "Part Deux," as it takes place in instantly recognizable Paris, contains less explanatory flashback material than the consequently essential trailer did, as the premise for the movie is a specific "what if?" portend of future potential regret that Ethan Hawke's Jesse used to seduce Julie Delpy's Celine for a night around Vienna almost ten years ago. How can someone who hasn't seen the first film judge the tricks memory may be playing on each character if you don't know what you remember really happened? It is a wonderful premise and creative writing collaboration among director Richard Linklater and the stars to have the characters revisited in the real time of being older in a real time conversation that is filmed a la Eric Rohmer, like his "Les Rendez-vous de Paris." The movie carries an additional subtext that shadows the characters and adds to the complexity. Back in 1995, Hawke was at his most earnestly, shaggily adorable and Delpy was an up-and-coming starlet. But now we've seen Hawke rise to an Oscar nomination, as well as a novelist like Jesse, while becoming tabloid fodder for the break-up of his family with Uma Thurman, and he bears a gaunt, haunted, shorn look. Delpy has during this time only surfaced occasionally to American audiences, so that her strong, luminous character here is particularly captivating and believable as a professional activist as well as a songwriter (quite sweet on the soundtrack and probably on her own CD, too) and you simply can't take your eyes off her. She nicely counters the image of her delicate beauty with frank exchanges and well-kicked profanity. Elements of the premise have been done to exaggerated comic effect in the Western satire "From Noon Till Three" Neil Simon's "Same Time Next Year" and "The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions barbares)," but this feels natural.Where the earlier movie had the charm of a late night, dorm room bull session resonant of the potentials of youth, this one is an amusing probing of protective defenses to honestly reveal thwarted, older and trying to be wiser expectations as they circle each other to consider once again grabbing what could be the brass ring amidst the complicated real lives they have built. This ending is as deliciously open-ended as the first and I look forward to revisiting Jesse and Celine ten years hence.
The sequel I never wanted to see has exceeded my expectations
posted on 12 May 2009Before Sunrise was a beautiful movie that catered to a romantic ideal: Jesse and Celine share a single day together, conversation flows like wine, and it all ends far to abruptly to ever know if the love was real, or merely a figment of their own hopes. Jesse is the heart-broken cynic, Celine the romantic in search of a pair. It is one of the best examples of young love ever put on screen. At the end of the first movie, you are left on your own to decide their fates.This is precisely why I never wanted there to be a sequel. It was a perfectly ambiguous movie, and the way you interpreted their future was just a reflection of your own cynicism or romantic nature. Yet Linklater decided to answer the question for us in perhaps the most beautiful way possible. For anyone who saw Sunrise when it first came out, nine years of their own lives have now passed, along with the actors. How has the passage of time affected not only the viewers' interpretations, but also the actors?This time around, Hawke plays the romantic. For nine years he has hoped and dreamed of meeting up with Celine. Conversely, for Delpy her romanticism was snuffed out the day she should have met up in Vienna. What Linklater has done is essentially recreate the entire first story all over again, only this time it's from the perspective of a 30-something. The details that got in the way of their first affair: distance, fear, uncertainty -- have been replaced with the more practical (but more serious) details of marriage, children, responsibility.If they could just go back to that point in time knowing what they know now, it would be so simple -- of course they'd get together. But life isn't that easy. Linklater has again given them a chance at true, perfect love, this time with the complications of mature adults. They both recognize how special their relationship is, but the sacrifices they would have to make to be together now have far more serious consequences. Is it worth the risk? The ending is again ambiguous -- perhaps Linklater will fill us in on the details in another 9 years.Note: while Before Sunset does reference Before Sunrise in occasional flashback blips, you really should see the original first. If you have the time, you might try waiting a few years before watching the sequel to truly appreciate it -- though this isn't completely necessary.
About the Gap Between Commitment and Fullfillment
posted on 04 May 2009The resolution of this movie is simply about the fact that feelings may trump commitment. Now that that's over, I can go on to say why I think this move is such a bad movie.This movie has a theme, but that's all it has. The acting is atrocious. Ethan Hawke isn't capable, and because this movie is meant to be an improvisational tour de force, his character's lines are constantly jarring our belief. His lines and delivery throughout cause us to doubt that he is really a writer (even though we see him signing books), that he is really a parent, even that he is really a married man. I guess if you buy the bit about his being a writer, you'll buy the family stuff. The scene at the end with Julie Delpy mimics the deceased bebop singer/pianist referred to only as "she", is psychologically the coup de gras, since so much of the movie before seemed so disingenuous. Finally nothing is said for the "feelings" he has for his son, "I don't want to ever be without him for even a minute!", nor what it is he is unable to give his wife that she "needs".Besides the theme, which is a good one, the only other mixed feeling I have is about Julie Delpy who turns in a reasonable performance, and some of the photography.
Simplicity at Its Best
posted on 28 Aug 2009I think a lot about the original and the sequel of the movie is said in the title. "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset" are about this short period of time in everyone's life, when we are at our most conscious, most creative, most open to life and full of expectations. Hopes that each day will enrich us, present us with new and exciting opportunities, that it will bring us closer to that perfect image of us that we first had when we were five.However, the sequel is more about the specific moment in life when we have already realized that we aren't anywhere closer to that perfect image; that life has already peaked for us without us properly understanding when and why and that it has began its inescapable decline.What makes this film a masterpiece, like no other, is its simplicity. It is a multi-layered film, without layers-a simple idea (a long wished for reunion of two disillusioned souls), faultless acting and what's important in life dialogue.