Album Reviews
Movies
Concert Reviews
Movie Resources
Concert Reviews
Book Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Contact Us

Before Sunset

Most film sequels are unnecessary. Rare is the blockbuster movie that has enough character depth that we care what happens next to our heroes. So instead of advancing the characters or the storyline, the sequel merely offers a retread of the first movie, only bigger. Screenwriters and directors, afraid of doing anything that might ruin the box office karma, simply reuse the original formula. Which is why audiences who genuinely liked the initial installment (and sequels are often made without that condition) are usually disappointed by the second and almost always by the third.

Before Sunset, the new film from director Richard Linklater (Waking Life), is a refreshing exception. It's a sequel to the 1995 indie hit Before Sunrise and reunites the two characters from that first film, Jesse and Celine. If you never saw Before Sunrise, you really should, as it's a delightful film. Ethan Hawke plays an American young man named Jesse, while French actress Julie Delpy plays the French grad student Celine. The two meet on a train from Budapest, and Jesse persuades Celine to delay her Paris trip to spend a long night talking and walking through the streets of Vienna.

Before Sunset picks up nine years later. Jesse is an author, and he's in Paris on the last chapter of a book tour. His novel, as we soon discover, is a thinly-veiled account of his meeting with Celine almost a decade before. Whether it's an attempt to rewrite the past, close old wounds, or imagine a happier ending isn't quite clear. But as his book signing ends, he looks to his right and sees Celine smiling at him from the stacks. It's a breathtaking moment, and not just because Julie Delpy remains one of the prettiest actresses in the world. Through back-and-forth point-of-view shots, we see the delight on both Jesse and Celine's faces as their hoped-for meeting comes to pass.

Though they're thrilled to see each other, that doesn't take away the natural awkwardness of meeting again after so long, and both Hawke and Delpy play it beautifully. They probe each other, wondering what the other's up to and, more importantly, how they feel about each other. Before Sunrise ended not with the exchange of phone numbers but the promise of another meeting. That meeting never took place, and the two dance around the subject of why the other did or didn't show. After finally agreeing that neither is at fault, they move on to the safer topics of world politics, careers, and priorities. Underlying each of those discussions, however, is the larger question--does the chemistry they shared nine years before still exist?

There's no denying the chemistry between Hawke and Delpy. They seem completely comfortable with each other, with little gestures, laughs, and questions taking on tremendous significance. Linklater, confident in his stars, shoots most scenes in long Steadicam takes, as the two walk through the streets and parks of Paris. By largely avoiding the shot/reverse-shot approach (one camera on Hawke, another on Delpy), Linklater emphasizes how Jesse and Celine relate to each other, how the one reacts as the other talks. We watch as the relationship rekindles, and we wonder where it will go.

There are two critical moments in the conversation. In the first, Jesse tries to move the conversation in a sexual direction. Celine deflects it initially, then seems to embrace it, and then confronts Jesse about the fact that he's married. This comes as a shock to the audience. We've learned already that Celine has a boyfriend, but we couldn't have guessed Jesse's marital state. In many ways, this represents a misstep by Linklater, as this is a "revelation" both Jesse and Celine are aware of (Jesse for obvious reasons, Celine because she read it on a book jacket) and yet we're kept in the dark. The ensuing  discussion lags, unfortunately, as the two step back to surer ground and we in the audience try to process this new information.

As sunset approaches, however, and the deadline of Jesse's flight back to New York looms, the conversation reaches a stunning crescendo. The two talk, even yell, about their expectations of love and how that encounter nine years before has shaped their own views on relationships and commitment. In one staggering moment, Celine struggles with whether to touch Jesse on the shoulder, as if the fate of her world rested in the brush of a hand.

My only major problem with Before Sunset lies on moral grounds. Because the film is so centered on Jesse and Celine (we never see or hear from the significant others) and because their affection for each other is so obvious, we instinctively root for them to get back together--to abandon their respective wife (and son) or boyfriend, and run away for the rest of their lives. Primal romanticism is common in movies (it's a truism in cinema that first love trumps all), and our pop culture is built on easy detachment from marital commitments. But I find that notion much more threatening to the sanctity of marriage than any controversy over bared breasts or gay unions. Do we really want a film that encourages people to leave their spouse and children just because they feel a connection with a person they've met for a total of 24 hours? Could these two possibly live together in this intensified state, or would their love burn out as quickly as it ignited?

That last question is one that hangs over the entire film and is why the sequel is so effective. These two characters are so well developed that we wonder about not only their present situation but their whole future. We care about what happens to them and desperately want to know what's going to come next. Unlike the current slew of sequels and trilogies, Before Sunset features individuals, not caricatures or stereotypes. We saw them at 23, and now we have the chance to see how they are at 32, how they've changed, grown, failed, succeeded, chased their dreams, caught some, lost others. The movie strangely reminded me of the 7-Up documentary films. That British series began in the mid-'60s with a group of seven-year-olds and has returned every seven years to chronicle the lives of the same people. It's a fantastic idea. While Before Sunset is obviously fictional, it features the same fascination with how people change over time. "Do I look different?" Celine asks early on. It's a loaded question, for sure, but one we're asking, too.

I won't spoil the film's ending, but I can't help but note that it features one of the finest fade-to-blacks you'll ever see. As Celine dances around, imitating the late, great Nina Simone, she points at Jesse and half-jokingly makes a prediction. Linklater cuts to Jesse's smiling, somewhat befuddled face and then back to Celine, who's moving closer and closer to the camera. As the screen discreetly fades to black, we're left with a gorgeous uncertainty and a deep desire to see these same two people somewhere down the road. Hopefully, it won't take nine more years. 

J. Robert Parks  7/12/2004

We live in a world where relationships seen on screen are generally nothing but manipulated drivel, designed to make you tear up and laugh at the right times and leave the theater glad that you and your date dropped $20 to live through someone else's more "romantic" experiences for a couple of hours. Thank God Richard Linklater provides an alternative in his masterful sequel Before Sunset.

When we last left the characters Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) at the end of Before Sunrise, they had just spent an incredible evening together walking through the streets of Vienna and getting to know each other. In the morning, they left their separate ways - Jesse returned to America and Celine went back to her home in Paris. They promised to meet at the same place in Vienna again in six months, but decided not to leave each other with any kind of contact information on a youthful, romantic whim.

Before Sunset picks up nine years later. Jesse is traveling through Europe doing signings of his novel, which is based on the experiences he had with Celine that night. On his last stop of the tour in Paris, he looks up during the session and is surprised to see Celine standing there. Jesse has to catch a plane back to America at the end of the afternoon, so with limited time he and Celine walk around Paris catching up with each other, but generally talking around the big question - each other - a romance that pretty much everyone was pulling for in Before Sunrise.

It is extremely easy to forget that we are watching characters in a movie as we invest our thoughts and emotions in the conversations that Jesse and Celine have. There is a rare chemistry that they share together. Ultimately the film becomes a stuggle between romantic ideas and the reality of life. These two characters seemed to drop their ideas of romance nine years ago when their scheduled meeting didn't happen. Since then they have tried to settle into a realistic way of living life, forgetting what love can be and forcing themselves to go through the motions. Of course, the brief encounter that Before Sunset documents serves to stir up feelings in Jesse and Celine as they realize what has happened to them over the last nine years.

At the same time, we are also watching a struggle between responsibility and romance. Just because someone stopped believing in love and took on responsibilities as a result of it should not mean that they can shirk these responsibilities when given the chance of finding love again. Love is a very important thing, but we have to live with the choices that we make and cannot shirk the past out of selfishness. This is certainly something that Jesse and Celine have to think about.

From a technical standpoint, Before Sunset is downright unbelievable. The film takes place in real time. The characters have 80 minutes together and we have 80 minutes to watch them. We hear everything they say to each other. We see the awkwardness, the sarcasm, the subtlety, everything. Richard Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy worked together on the screenplay to craft a conversation with perfect flow and a building tension. If there was a film to watch about personal communication, _Before Sunset_ is the one. Linklater crafts a reality so close to real life that we are lost in it without a second thought.

Of course, the big question is how does it all end? What comes of Jesse and Celine? That you will have to see for yourself, but suffice to say that the ending of this film makes perfect sense when lined up with Before Sunrise.

To those who are saying, "I can't believe that Trae is endorsing a romantic film so highly" let me explain myself. This is not some cheesy, fake romantic movie. This is a real, genuine conversation that is totally what anyone may be going through in life. Before Sunset is incredible real. Match that with the romantic ideas that are introduced and you have a strange, but important puzzle to unravel. It's a relationship that everyone should figure out for themselves.

My final conclusion is that Before Sunset is the opus for relationships in the 21st century. It should be required viewing for anyone who is interested in the idea of love. And don't just watch it, sit down and talk about it with your significant other. There are things here that we need to think deeply about. The big screen has fed us a good deal of crap about romance. Before Sunset is a needed detox. 

Trae Cadenhead 8/22/2004