Sunday Classics: Before Sunset

I can sit down and watch just about any movie and as such, I’ve seen a great many films in my life. More than I could even begin to count. I’ve seen masterpieces and pieces of sh*t, and out of every single movie I’ve ever seen in my life, Before Sunset is my absolute favorite.

By CC Staff

It’s not a perfect film; indeed, many people would be bored by what is essentially an hour-and-a-half long conversation. Some would even say that basing a film on just two people talking is pretentious and anti-climactic. I believe, however, that Before Sunset is a deeply moving, real, and thought-provoking film about relationships and connections and even just being human.

It’s the sequel to 1995’s Before Sunrise in which the two main characters, Jesse and Celine, meet on a train and then spend one night together in Vienna. Talking. All night. Before Sunrise is a masterpiece in its own right, and, in that both films are directed by indie auteur Richard Linklater, they are both firmly films of and by their generation.

Before Sunset takes place almost ten years after the night portrayed in Before Sunrise, when the protagonists meet again during a signing of Jesse’s book (guess what it’s about) in Paris, where Celine now lives. The film almost plays out in real time, with the characters discussing their lives in the interring years and their matured philosophies on life and love. The two films star Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy both of whom helped to write the script. Their involvement in the movie shows in the lovely rapport between the two actors and the relationship they have built with these two characters.

A relationship that makes an hour-and-a-half conversation seem like five minutes, that draws the viewer in and pulls on her heartstrings not in the cheap way that most romances seem to these days, but by showing that these characters understand each other emotionally, philosophically, and physically. The time that has gone between the two movies only adds to the weight of their connection. We really understand why these two people should be together because we’ve seen almost all of their interaction and we’ve felt their absence as acutely as they have.

The film is also beautifully shot and the beauty of Paris and the waning day really underscores the beauty of the dialogue.

As much as I love the movie, and could watch it over and over and never want it to end, my favorite part of Before Sunset is the third act, the ending. I don’t want to spoil it, but I think it’s just about the most perfect ending to such a beautifully wrought movie I could think of.

What makes this film so personal and special to me is that I really feel the truth in it, in the way they look at each other, the easy way they speak to each other and really seem to understand what the other is saying. I feel like I could (and I have) sit across from this person I love and listen to everything they had to say. I understood their connection, because that’s the way new love feels.