Before Sunset
Composite Score: 87.23
Starring: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy
Director: Richard Linklater
Writers: Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, and Kim Krizan
Genres: Drama, Romance
MPAA Rating: R for language and sexual references
Box Office: $16.51 million worldwide
My take on Watching This Film:
Before Sunset is the second film in Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy, finding Céline (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) crossing paths again nine years after their first romantic encounter in Vienna (Before Sunrise). This time, we find Jesse as a successful author, wrapping up the European leg of his book tour for the book he wrote based largely on their night together in Vienna in the first film. Céline now works for a NGO and happens to stop by the bookstore where Jesse is giving the final interview of his tour before catching a flight back to the U.S. to see his wife and son. Having some time to spare before Jesse’s flight departs, the pair decide to take in Paris together for old time’s sake, and the film follows their afternoon together as they converse about life, love, and politics and bringing the audience along with them. Where the first film feels like a look at two star-crossed lovers and the rushed romance of one night together, complete with the discomfort and flirtations of young love, Sunset feels like a maturation. Both have loved, been loved, had their hearts broken, and are currently in fairly committed relationships, so their conversations take on much more intentional airs, turning constantly to the gap that each has left in the other’s life by not meeting up again after the events of Sunrise. In that gap lies the heart of the film and their own personal struggles and pains – desire and longing – and the film does a fantastic job of keeping the audience in that same space with them. There is a passion that comes with the certainty of the nine additional years that the pair has lived apart constantly lurking under the surface of every conversation as they walk about town. It bubbles to the top in brief moments, giving the audience and the couple hope that maybe this won’t end quite so unresolved as their last encounter did. It’s a beautiful look at the what-if’s of life and the passion that comes with maturing, and it’s arguably a better film than the first, which is excellent in its own right, and for those reasons, I’d argue that it unquestionably deserves recognition as one of the Greatest Films of All Time. If you’re looking for a film with a clear plot and resolution, it might not be the romantic drama that you’re looking for, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a film that captures longing so well as this one. You can currently stream this film for free with Hoopla if you have access to that, or you can rent it on most streaming services if you’d care to check it out for yourself.
