Franchise Friday: Before Sunrise (1995)
Let's walk, talk and fall in love in Vienna.
Shortly after I began dating the woman who is now my wife, she invited me over for dinner and asked if I would bring a movie. We were at the point in our relationship where I was beginning to feel good about where things were headed, and I felt it was time to bring out one of my non-negotiables, a movie where I just knew that if she didn’t like it, I would be crushed.
I brought Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, a love story I fell so deeply for that it influenced my romantic aspirations. We ate fettuccine, talked for a bit and then settled on the couch so I could introduce her to Jesse, Celine and their long walk around Vienna.
To this day, Kelly refers to it as “that boring movie where they just walk around and chat.”
Although I obviously disagree with her take on this film (she’s warmer on the sequels), I’m still holding out hope. Before Sunrise sits differently with time and after two sequels, and I’ve noticed my relationship to it changing as I grow older. Revisiting it recently, I’m still enchanted by Linklater’s ode to romantic idealism, the power of connections and the ephemeral moments that change our lives.
The long walk
Before Sunrise follows Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy), two young strangers who meet on a train. Jesse, an American, is bumming around Europe before catching a flight home; Celine is a French college student on her way back to Paris after visiting her grandmother in Budapest. The two strike up a conversation and Ethan proposes continuing it while he walks around Vienna for the evening. The two spend the night walking and talking, visiting cafes and graveyards, getting their palms read and having poetry written, and falling in love.
The film was only Linklater’s third feature, but his work with Slacker and Dazed and Confused had already established him as one of cinema’s most intriguing new directors, curious and affectionate about his subjects and happy just to let his actors deliver long, thoughtful lines of dialogue. Dazed, still recognized as one of the great high school films, is a raucous and often very funny film, but it works because it feels genuinely in touch with its teenage characters and allows the excitement of senior year to mingle with the more bitter and painful moments of teenage life.
Before Sunrise is a smaller film, focused solely on two characters and, like Slacker and Dazed, limiting its timeframe to the course of one day or evening (time, of course, is one of the themes Linklater will constantly return to in his career). It’s a more gently funny film but no less thoughtful; Jesse and Celine talk about nearly every conceivable subject, from reincarnation to love to politics to cherished memories. Time is the topic of many of these conversations, whether it’s Celine musing about a girl in a graveyard whose death has stuck her in time or Jesse self-consciously talking about his plans for a cable-access show recording the minutiae of daily life. Underneath all of these conversations, though, is the understanding that their moment in Vienna is fleeting, and they will eventually have to decide whether they will leave it as one magical night or find a way to extend it.
I understand why some may think of Before Sunrise as a movie where nothing happens. Aside from a very brief disagreement about psychics and a debate about whether they should sleep together, there isn’t much in the way of drama between Jesse and Celine. But anyone who’s had these experiences understands that these encounters are the moments where it feels like everything happens. Two people randomly meet and find someone who understands and intrigues them better than anyone else; they may just be talking about the random stuff of daily life, but there’s something palpable and undeniable going on under the surface. “If there's any kind of magic in this world it must be in the attempt of understanding someone sharing something,” Celine says, and the entire movie can be seen as an exploration of that point.
It’s easy to assume that Before Sunrise and its sequels are largely improvised, but Hawke, Delpy and Linklater have all attested that the films are meticulously planned out. The script by Linklater and Kim Krizan thoughtfully returns to common themes, often relating to the ephemeral nature of time, male and female relationships, or the feeling of being a young person in a big world who is questioning their next steps. In some sense, the topics don’t matter — it’s the connection Jesse and Celine make through them that propels the film — but the deep nature of their talks helps sell this as more than just casual flirtation, and returning to the themes of time as a vapor lends a sense of enchantment and urgency.
Linklater’s direction is never too showy, and it shouldn’t be; he largely takes in Jesse and Celine as they walk throughout the gorgeous European city. But he and editor Sandra Adair effectively decide just how long to hold shots in conversations and when to pull back from Jesse and Celine to take in their surroundings. The film has several standout sequences, the best of which, a long shot of the two stealing glances at each other in a record store listening booth, is so intimate that it’s almost uncomfortable to watch. A scene where Jesse and Celine sit in a café and make pretend phone calls to their friends as a way to reveal what they’re thinking about each other knows when to hold on the speaker and when to focus on the listener to catch them smiling or blushing. The film’s final montage, which shows all the haunts Jesse and Celine had visited now empty and silent without their presence, is not only an effective way to illustrate the ephemeral nature of their evening, but a callback to a moment where Celine talks about an artist she likes whose paintings create an environment “that’s stronger than their people.”
And yet, the film never feels inaccessible or too highbrow because anchoring it all is a romance that feels genuine. In 1995, Hawke and Delpy hadn’t quite aged into the actors they would become, but their intelligence, earnestness and wit are crucial to creating a chemistry that propels this two-decade saga. Their youth is a benefit; Celine’s passion, confusion and hopefulness are good counters to the cynicism Jesse sometimes trots out as a defense mechanism, and Jesse’s intellectual posturing meets its match in his new-found companion. Delpy, at this point, was probably a stronger actor than Hawke, who can sometimes be caught pushing a bit too hard. But that’s also fitting; this is an extended first date, and both Jesse and Celine are putting on performances, creating a personality for the other person to fall for. It only makes sense, especially as the night forces him to bring his guards down, that we see Jesse acting.
Before Sunrise was far from a box office powerhouse; it grossed only $5 million domestically, although that was double its budget. It certainly wasn’t a film that demanded a sequel; indeed, an argument could be made that its ending, in which Jesse and Celine pledge to see each other again in six months, is undercut by any future movies (we’ll discuss that more next week). And yet, Linklater’s thoughtful direction, and the effective performances from Hawke and Delpy, created something that lingered in fans’ minds and created a romance that felt more substantial than any ‘90s rom-coms without the self-seriousness that plagued most romantic genres.
And, true to Linklater’s style, it’s an artistic experiment that only gets better with time.
A changing relationship
As I said, Before Sunrise set the template for my romantic expectations as a single person. Watching Jesse and Celine stroll along those deserted Vienna streets and talk about their deepest issues, I longed for a connection like that. Rewatching Jesse launch true-or-false questions at Celine, I realized I’d stolen some of his techniques. The idea of meeting someone who understands you better than the others in your life do, the thought of being able to meet your intellectual and aspirational match, was what I wanted, and the bar I held to when I was dating (which, let’s be clear: was not often).
And it’s probably what drew me to my wife. Our first date was supposed to be a brief coffee at Starbucks that turned into a three-hour conversation and stroll. We lived 90 minutes apart for our entire dating relationship; many of our dates consisted of finding a city in the middle to grab a coffee in and walk around (usually Ann Arbor, where we ended up moving). Even today, when we are able to steal away for a weekend to another town, we often find the downtown area and take long walks where we discuss our lives, thoughts and feelings. I realize it’s probably what any couple does, but perhaps that’s why Before Sunrise feels so genuine; rather than root its plot in complications and confusion, it just watches its two leads do what lovers do.
And yet, as I get older, it’s easy to smile at the naivety of Jesse and Celine. The two quickly agree not to see each other again and preserve the magic of the night, likely assuming there will be other connections to come. They don’t exchange phone numbers or addresses even after they go back on that plan and agree to meet again in six months (this movie could not exist in the age of cellphones and Facebook). And it’s easy to look at them surrendering to the moment and indulging in the romance of the evening and think “this is what love is,” and laugh at their optimism. With years behind me, I admire their innocence and youthful ignorance, and their inability to understand that love is also sitting with another when they are sick, enduring the joys and stresses of bringing new life into the world, sticking with the other even when you don’t feel particularly in love. It’s not a flaw that the movie doesn’t realize this; it’s a testament to its ode to romantic idealism and its snapshot in time of young romance. I change and my view of the movie shifts, but its characters are still able to remain youthful, passionate and naïve.
And that’s where the sequels actually improve this entry, allowing us the glimpse of two character whose interactions will grow more complex and deal with those weightier realities and their ensuing complications later in their lives. Jesse and Celine will eventually outgrow their idealistic phase, but the series also never discounts this night; this moment means something, it carries weight that will continue to provide an emotional anchor for the future two films. Linklater is wise enough to understand how people change, but he doesn’t discount the power of young love and the impact that these encounters can have.
But we’ll get to that next week when we deal with Before Sunset.