Sunday I saw Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset, which is a continuation to an excellent film he made in 1995 with the leads Ethan Hawke and Julie Deply, Before Sunrise. The first film took place in Vienna and this film takes place in Paris. It’s definitely one of the best films of 2004 in my opinion, and one of the best sequels I’ve ever seen. I think this is because there was still a compelling story to be told. It wasn’t made just to cash in on a hit, I’m sure the first film was a modest success, if it made any money at all. Like Before Sunrise, Before Sunset is a sort of "talking heads" film in that it is essentially an extended conversation, but it resonates because of the back-story, the acting, and the quality of the writing. The two characters were supposed to meet six months after their initial encounter in Vienna, but they didn’t happen and they meet 9 years later during Jesse’s (Hawke) book tour in Paris, which Celine (Deply) attends. So they have to resolve the issue of why they didn’t meet up, or rather what went wrong, since one of them made the trip. Jesse has to be on a flight in the evening and the conversations they have goes straight to the bone, there’s little small talk as they talk about their lives since the last meeting, sex, religion, politics, and romantic disillusionment. Perhaps that was the most interesting aspect of their encounter for me. They look back and realize how naïve or romantic they were in their youth. Life has taught them that soul mates, or people that you connect easily with don’t come around so often and these people are to be cherished. They both have had their share of heartbreak and disappointment and they are more at home with their disappointments in life, but that doesn’t make them any less painful or significant. I feel really connected to this film in that I saw the original version almost 10 years ago in 1994, and seeing this film almost 10 years later brings my life around full-circle with the characters-I can relate to what they have gone through and how they feel now. I would guess people older could recognize the moment in their lives when they’ve lost their romantic ideals or have had to make compromises because of life. But perhaps younger people won’t be able to identify with these characters. I guess I see their situation as being pretty specific, but maybe not-has anyone else seen this film yet? I like how this film ends ambiguously like its predecessor. I think it’s a test of whether you are a romantic or realist, when you make predictions about what will happen to Jesse and Celine when the film ends.
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