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Before Sunrise and Before Sunset are two of the least typically American films one can imagine, in spite of their director and male star. Although the films are set in Vienna and Paris respectively, and feature French actress Julie Delpy, it is the understated nature of the romance that most evoke a European (particularly French) flavour.
Before Sunrise details the beginning of a romance that is fated to last just fourteen hours, as young American traveller Jesse (Ethan Hawke) meets French student Celine on a train. After discovering a mutual attraction after a brief conversation, they stroll around Vienna and simply talk, knowing they must leave for their separate lives when she returns to Paris the next day. The naturalistic conversations recall nouvelle vague cinema, and although the characters do little but talk about their own experiences, they never seem self-indulgent. Richard Linklater won the Best Director award at the Berlin Film Festival for his subtle, unobstrusive work here, and he coaxes a particularly strong turn from Delpy, whose knowing charisma and charm recall a young Julie Christie.
Nevertheless, Before Sunset is the superior work. Although the knowledge that the pair will meet again could mar the ambiguous denouement of Before Sunrise, the later film is no less enchanting. Here, Celine meets Jesse in Paris when he is interviewed about a book he has written about their initial encounter. In this film the talk is more serious, as Celine and Jesse contemplate their unsatisfactory lives. Often the audience is drawn to the listener rather than the talker throughout the conversation, particularly in a moving scene where Celine nearly reaches out to Jesse, only to withdraw the gesture when he turns to her. The voiced and unvoiced emotions are superbly handled by the cast and director, and the last scene is just perfect.

 

Alex Davidson on 22nd December 2004
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