A thinking man's romantic film, Before Sunset is a glorious, often funny and always intriguing, screen discourse on matters of the heart.
It might take some time to find acceptance outside cities like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston. But it is one of the most fascinating and honest films unveiled in recent months. Before Sunset is bound to become an arthouse hit.
When a director announces a follow-up film to a small and endearing film, Before Sunrise, that he had made nine years ago, you wonder if he is doing the right thing. Is it worth reuniting the young couple nine years later? Is it worth repeating the actors in a new film? Would the director be able to recapture the magic?
Richard Linklater, who successfully went commercial last year with the delightful comedy School of Rock, not only brings back the magic of Before Sunrise, but also infuses the film with more mature touches and confidence.
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His principal artistes Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy help Linklater create a film that is engaging and moving. Though Before Sunset is a world removed from sentimental favourites like the current hit The Notebook, the luminous presence of Hawke and Delpy gives the film a big boost.
Nine years have passed since Jesse (Hawke) and Celine (Delpy) met in Vienna one evening and walked all over the city, talking about love, sex, and life. He was a bit of an idealistic, timid, but hopeful American backpacking through Europe. And she was a French intellectual student.
Their plan to meet after six months apparently did not work out. But nine years later they meet in Paris. Jesse has written a novel about their long night together. He sees Celine at a book signing. You sense immediately that they have not met since that Vienna evening.
The movie is quite a bit of tease at the start. You want to know more about the couple. Is she still single? And him? Do they still feel strongly about each other? Are they just curious? Do they want to have a fling and forget about each other?
Soon we know the two have only a few hours to be together.
As the two start musing about their lives and pre-occupations, we realise that the two have aged. They cannot look at life with abandon like they did when they first met. Like in the first film, Before Sunrise, Linklater shows here too that long chats about life are anything but boring when you have two confident and sensitive artistes indulging in them.
You know that the dialogue is scripted. And yet it sounds utterly spontaneous. Linklater captures not only the anxiety, love, and fear the couple goes through, but also the lively part of Paris.
Like Oscar-winning Sofia Coppola's masterful Lost in Translation, a wry and humorous meditation on life and lost opportunities, the Linklater film is also an arresting study of the human condition.
There isn't much happening here, some may feel. But listen carefully to the conversation, penned by the two actors along with Linklater, and observe each gesture, expression, and the muted passion. You will come out of the theatre feeling privileged.
CREDITS
Written by: Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke
Starring: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy
Directed by: Richard Linklater
Running time: 80 minutes
Rating: R for offensive language and sexual references
