Before Sunrise :
Celine : I believe if there's any kind of God it wouldn't be in any of us, not you or me but just this little space in between. If there's any kind of magic in this world it must be in the attempt of understanding someone sharing something. I know, it's almost impossible to succeed but who cares really? The answer must be in the attempt.
( my most favorite quote from the movie - which also captures the essence of the movie)
Charming and yet very modern, youthful, romantic, intelligent, engaging, witty, insightful, magical and yet completely natural, simple and yet very complicated.....I think this is one great movie.
Two young, very normal, you and me type of people meet on a train and decide to spend the day together. They spend the day roaming about in Vienna, spending the night in a park, and parting ways in the morning. The movie is about what transpires between them in that one magical day.
Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy - what can I say...they have lived the characters and made them memorable in a way that I personally don't want to see them playing any other character....for fear of weakening the memory of them as Jesse and Celine.
Pay attention and watch closely. the subtleties of verbal language, of body language, of things that are said and more than that of things left unsaid....beautifully soak the movie and make it oh so juicy !!
There is no agenda in the movie, no urgency to prove a point, its only just about the meeting of two minds ....and there is something very erotic about it...after all the mind is the most erotic organ...isn't it?
The dialogues are so rich, they strike a chord simultaneously with the heart and the mind. The movie is conversational...about two young and talkative adults, just talking..and what do they talk about?...About mundane things and some vague things...a bit of philosophy, a bit of laughter, of their pasts, their experiences, a bit of flirting, of confusions etc etc. The flow from one topic to the other...the spontaneity of the two characters is so flawless that one feels the throbbing space between them.
Before Sunset :- ( sequel to Before Sunrise)
Celine's song] Let me sing you a waltz / Out of nowhere, out of my thoughts / Let me sing you a waltz / About this one night stand / You were, for me, that night / Everything I always dreamt of in life / But now you're gone / You are far gone / All the way to your island of rain / It was for you just a one night thing / But you were much more to me, just so you know / I don't care what they say / I know what you meant for me that day / I just want another try, I just want another night / Even if it doesn't seem quite right / You meant for me much more than anyone I've met before / One single night with you, little Jesse, is worth a thousand with anybody / I have no bitterness, my sweet / I'll never forget this one night thing / Even tomorrow in other arms, my heart will stay yours until I die / Let me sing you a waltz / Out of nowhere, out of my blues / Let me sing you a waltz / About this lovely one night stand
( celine writes a song for Jesse...sings it by the end of the movie)
The director has succeeded in achieving a very difficult task here. I believe the movie was actually made exactly 9 years later, as in the story the characters meet after 9 years. Richard Lanklater succeeds in continuing the charm and romance and taking it to a different level.
The magic continues...as Jesse and Celine meet after 9 years. Their lives have changed, they have changed, grown, matured.
The initial awkwardness upon meeting after 9 years, picking after where they left....the struggle of emotions, memories, the struggle to deal with changes in one anothers life...the struggle to contain their emotions, is once again very subtle and very smooth.
There are so many layers to this movie...layers of intimacy of minds and feelings, of knowing one another and yet not knowing one another anymore, the throbbing sexual tension, the suspense of how will it end...
My advice - watch both the movies, in order...but with a gap of a few days in between them. Watching both in a stretch might overkill.
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