The Bottom Line
- An elegant, lovely sequel to "Before Sunset"
- Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke: they talk, they click, they're beautiful
- Linklater proves you can be romantic without being cheesy
- The DVD deserved a director's commentary track
Description
- Richard Linklater, 2004.
- 80 minutes.
- Available subtitles: English, Spanish, French
- Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- The featurette "On The Set of Before Sunset."
Guide Review - Before Sunset DVD
Jessie has only a few hours in Paris before he must catch a flight back home. In the brief time they have together, Celine and Jessie talk without cease, wildly making up for lost time. They discuss their careers, their love lives, their youthful idealism, their adult lack of hope, the state of the world, and the painfully persistent question: what if? Jesse and Celine fluidly move through the city, walking cobblestone streets, sitting in a typical Parisian café, passing through a lovely garden, and wandering down to the banks of the Seine, where they ride a tourist boat, Notre Dame luminous in the backdrop. The conversation never stops, but the talk is never dull.
Delpy and Hawke co-wrote the script with the director. Jessie and Celine are characters they know well, inhabit fully, and their conversations feel both spontaneous and true. The grown-up lovers are intelligent and politically aware -- a successful novelist and an environmental activist, after all -- and if they are perhaps more beautiful than most, they are extremely appealing and heart-breakingly real.
