Before Sunset

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Before Sunset

Before Sunset film poster
Directed by Richard Linklater
Produced by Richard Linklater
Written by Richard Linklater,
Ethan Hawke,
Julie Delpy
Starring Ethan Hawke,
Julie Delpy
Music by Julie Delpy
Cinematography Lee Daniel
Distributed by Warner Independent Pictures
Release date(s) 2004
Running time 80 minutes
Language English, French
Preceded by Before Sunrise
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Before Sunset (2004) is an American film, the sequel to the film Before Sunrise (1995). Like its predecessor, the film was directed by Richard Linklater. However, this time he shares credit with both Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy on the screenplay. The script was based on an original story by Before Sunrise screenwriter Kim Krizan and Richard Linklater, who received story credit on this film.

Delpy also wrote two songs featured in the film. A third was included in the closing credits and movie soundtrack.

This film is noted for its use of the Steadicam for tracking shots and its use of long takes, with the longest of the Steadicam takes at about 11 minutes.[1] Noteworthy too is that the film takes place essentially in real time, i.e. the time elapsed in the story is also the run time of the film. Furthermore, the sequel was also released nine years after Before Sunrise, the same amount of time that has lapsed in the plot since the events of the first movie.

Hawke had suggested the possibility of further films in the series. He said that it would be nice to develop further the course of their relationship.[2] The film appeared in the wake of Hawke's divorce from Uma Thurman, and some commentators drew parallels between Hawke's own life and the character of Jesse in the film.[3] Additional comment has noted that both Hawke and Delpy incorporated elements of their own lives into the screenplay,[1][4] such as the fact that Delpy lived for several years in New York City.

The movie was filmed in 15 days, on a budget of about USD $2 million. Hawke commented on the reason for making the film:

"It's not like anybody was begging us to make a second film. We obviously did it because we wanted to."[5]

Contents

[edit] Plot

Nine years have passed since the events of Before Sunrise, when Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) had met in Vienna. Since then, Jesse has written a novel, This Time, inspired by his time in Vienna with Celine, and the book has become a minor success, with Jesse doing a book tour. The last stop of the tour across Europe is Paris, and Jesse is doing a reading at the bookstore Shakespeare and Company. As Jesse talks with his audience, flashbacks are seen of him and Celine in Vienna; the memories of their night together have clearly remained with him despite it being nine years later. Celine appears in the audience and sees him and he, in turn, recognizes her. Jesse has a short time before his plane departs, and invites Celine to share it with him.

As they talk, each reveals what has happened since their first meeting. Both are now in their mid thirties. Jesse, now a writer, is married and has a son. Celine has become an advocate for the environment, lived in America for a time, and has a boyfriend, a photojournalist. It becomes clear in the course of their talk, both are dissatisfied to varying degrees with their lives. Jesse reveals that the only reason that he remains married is how much he loves his son. Celine says that she does not see her boyfriend very much because he is so often on assignment.

As they recall their prior meeting in Vienna, they slowly approach the subject of why they did not meet as promised, six months after their first encounter. It turns out that Jesse had returned to Vienna, as promised, but Celine did not, because her grandmother had suddenly died before the scheduled date of the meeting. Because Jesse and Celine had never exchanged addresses, there was no way for them to communicate with each other and to learn what the other was doing, or what had happened.

Their conversation as they traverse Paris places them in various venues, including a café, a garden, a bateau mouche, and Jesse's hired car for his stay in Paris. Their old feelings for each other are slowly rekindled, even with tension and regret over the missed meeting earlier, as they realize that nothing else in their lives has matched their one prior night together in Vienna. Jesse even admits that he wrote the book in the distant hope of meeting Celine again one day. She says that she felt pain from reading his book. At one point, in the hired car, during a tense moment when Jesse is angry, Celine reaches her hand out to touch Jesse, but pulls back just as he turns to her.

In the concluding scene, Celine and Jesse arrive at her apartment. Jesse puts a CD by Nina Simone on the stereo system. Celine dances by herself to the song "Just in Time" as Jesse watches her. As Celine imitates Nina Simone, she slowly says to Jesse:

"Baby ... you are gonna miss that plane."

As the camera slowly pans in, Jesse looks like a man gloriously happy for the first time in years, and he responds simply with

"I know."

[edit] Awards and nominations

Awards
Nominations
v • d • e
Films directed by Richard Linklater

It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1989) • Slacker (1991) • Dazed and Confused (1993) • Before Sunrise (1995) • subUrbia (1996) • The Newton Boys (1998) • Waking Life (2001) • Tape (2001) • School of Rock (2003) • Before Sunset (2004) • Bad News Bears (2005) • A Scanner Darkly (2006) • Fast Food Nation (2006) • Boyhood (~2015)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Lee Marshall. "Love that goes with the flow", Telegraph, 19 July 2004. Retrieved on 2007-08-11. 
  2. ^ James Wood. "The last word", The Guardian, 11 June 2005. Retrieved on 2007-08-10. 
  3. ^ Dan Halpern. "Another sunrise", The Guardian, 8 October 2005. Retrieved on 2007-08-10. 
  4. ^ S.F. Said. "Keeping the dream alive", Telegraph, 9 July 2004. Retrieved on 2007-08-11. 
  5. ^ Geoffrey Macnab. "Forget me not", The Guardian, 8 October 2005. Retrieved on 2007-08-10. 

[edit] External links