Before Sunrise/Before Sunset

The more I explore the work of writer/director Richard Linklater, the more I realize what a unique talent he is. A Texas slacker with a penchant for long tangential dialogue, he’s not afraid to let his characters and his words lead the action in his films. So after having seen and loved Dazed and Confused, Waking Life, Slacker and School of Rock, I finally got around to seeing Before Sunrise recently. Thanks to Netflix, I was able to make it a double feature by viewing the sequel Before Sunset immediately afterward. I’ll admit right off it’s a bit odd watching these two films back-to-back. They were filmed nine years apart, and if I had seen the first all those years ago, I would have probably thought a sequel would be a bit of a cop out and cheapen the power of the original. But I would have been wrong.

In Before Sunrise, stars Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke play a young Frenchwoman and American making their way through Europe. Hawke’s Jesse is making his way home to America by way of Vienna when he meets Delpy’s Celine on a train. She is headed to France, but after hitting it off discussing dreams, books, and other existential topics, Jesse convinces Celine to get off the train with him and walk around Vienna until he his flight takes off in the morning.

What follows is much like other Richard Linklater stories: a sort of stream of consciousness living. Jesse and Celine walk aimlessly throughout the city, stopping to pontificate, make light conversation with strangers, and take in some of the sights. All the while it is clear they are falling deeper in love, even if it has been mere hours since they first met. This kind of writing lends a real-time feel, as follow their transitions from location to location on a bus, on foot and so on. Despite this clear flow of action, each scene almost stands on its own as a vignette. The discussions within each of these scenes are fairly self-contained, and only as the movie nears its climax do our characters begin to reveal anything truly of themselves.

Near the end there is the requisite discussion about whether or not to have sex. Our two philosophers have convened with some wine in a park, and as they lie looking up at the sky they start to wonder about their future. At the beginning of the day, they made a pact that this would be a one-time deal, sex- and duty-free. Yet at the end of Sunrise, while enduring a tearful goodbye at the train station, they make a pact: in one year, they will meet again at the same train station, and if things were meant to be for the two of them, it will be proved on that day. The movie ends without the characters or the audience knowing what will happen.

As I said before, if I had seen it when it was originally release, I would’ve thought this was this perfect ending to Before Sunrise. The poignancy of these moments is not fully realized until watching Before Sunset, and from the moment Celine and Jesse meet again, you realize that though they never found each other until nine years later, maybe they were meant to be together after all.

It is nine years later and Jesse is in a french bookstore to promote a book he has recently written. We find out in the opening segment that the book is a fictional account of that one night nine years ago that clearly affected him so much. Things seem to be going so well for Jesse, who now has a wife and kid in addition to a successful career as a first-time novelist (and full-time obit writer). Jesse’s just getting ready to leave for the airport in one hour when who should stop by the bookstore but Celine. Of course Jesse finds a way to make time for her before he catches his flight. They proceed to walk the streets of Paris together, and like old friends, they are never at a loss for words despite their nine year divide.

Whereas Sunrise felt like real-time, Sunset actually is. Throughout the course of their hourlong walk-and-talk, Jesse and Celine share their past nine years, discuss the current state of world politics, and reminisce on their night together oh so long ago. Hawke and Delpy reinhabit their roles as if they had never left them, (the two stars also helped write dialogue for the sequel) and as an audience we are treated to a unique experience in which we can really see and feel for ourselves how these characters have changed, and how the times they live in have changed as well. There’s a weariness to these characters, as if they know they missed out on each other, and yet have no choice but to live the lives they chose. There’s a scene in the first movie where Jesse ultimately gets Celine to depart in Vienna with him. He asks her to look upon this moment as a future memory. If she stays on the train, will her future self regret it? Will she be a wife and mother, and look back at this moment as a chance to have tried something different?

In the actual future, we see the weight of life on Jesse and Celine. It’s clear they still have a connection, and that things didn’t turn out quite like they had hoped. We find out just why they were unable to meet at the train station, and just what happened in the park that night. To say more would spoil it, but I will say that the movie has an open-ended conclusion much like the first, and when it was all over I was immediately compelled to contact friends I haven’t seen or heard from in ages. Sunset is that rare sequel that not only tops the first, but could stand on its own as a marvelous film.

Grade: A- (Sunrise), A (Sunset)
Similar Tastes: Waking Life, Slacker, Dazed and Confused

Released: 1995, 2004 (theaters), 2001, 2005 (dvd)
Director: Richard Linklater
Writers: Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan, Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy
Starring: Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy

Before Sunrise: Add to Netflix Queue // Buy from Amazon
Before Sunset: Add to Netflix Queue // Buy from Amazon