Before Sunrise
I was lucky enough over the weekend to experience Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise on a big screen for the first time at The Royal Cinema in Toronto as part of the Up All Night festival. Having seen the film many times before seeing it in a theater with an audience changed my perspective on it.
The big thing that my previous viewings on VHS and DVD were lacking was not taking notice of the films third character, the city of Vienna. Vienna pops off the screen and you get the feeling that these beautiful surroundings are heightening the romanticism Celine and Jesse are living through. They pass the time trying to unlock everything they can about each other while the city watches over them, coaxing them closer to each other as darkness falls over the city.
The film holds up so well because it’s bursting with true moments. The scene that always stuck with me takes place in the record shop. Celine and Jesse enter a listening booth in a record store and as they listen they take turns staring at each other. Each of them looking away when they sense the others gaze inching toward them. It’s moments like these, just before you become really comfortable with someone that this film showcases so well. The other person has peaked your interest but you hold back as long as you can to not come off as being too needy or vulnerable.
As they continue through the night they both drop their guard and Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke provide just enough vulnerability to their characters that you never feel like you’re watching something that’s overly plotted or scripted. You forget you’re watching a movie but rather just watching two people slowly dropping their guard and falling for each other. It’s this voyeuristic aspect to the film and the trilogy as a whole that elevates it. You’re dropped into these two characters lives and you root for them, it’s all that’s needed for the film to work.
The film progresses with enlightening and deep conversations that are a staple of Linklater’s work. Both actors are up for the challenge to make the dialogue seem natural so the characters feel lived in. The film ends as it should, it being the first film in a trilogy you know the story continues but Before Sunrise works on it’s own because it knows what stage of life these characters are in. The final moment Celine and Jesse spend together is so frustrating because in your early 20′s it’s easy for you to take an evening like this for granted. As if ones life is made up of an unending series of meaningful connections and you can just leave the next steps to chance. It’s probably why in the subsequent films the characters seem to always be chasing how they felt throughout this evening.
It makes me wonder if they had exchanged information or met six months later would they have eventually ended up together? The ten years between the first two movies only intensified the passion in these characters memories. It probably would have been pretty anticlimactic trying to continue to build this initial connection on a long distance phone call. But lets be honest, this wouldn’t make for a particularly interesting sequel.
