Interestingly the story brings the audience through a short verbal venture that recaps what has happened to them during the time between now and when they were supposed to have met in Vienna after their first encounter.  Through their personal narrations of what they have been up to, feelings and personal thoughts seep through the walls of tension that they both try to keep up in order to protect themselves and their presence.  As the minutes evaporate, personal concerns filter through cerebral stress and anxiety that rests on a limited foundation of expiring time.  An emotional distillation of verbal expression concentrates on what is important, yet they repress any emotional outburst, as they lean on their social and personal values.  This becomes a balancing act between fear and desire, as they both care for one another they do not want to offend the other, yet they desire to tell what is eating them inside.

Delpy and Hawke perform in a brilliant manner, as they depict a delicate balancing act between what they desire and fear of loosing – each other.  The director Richard Linklater depicts the meeting with intense verbal outlet and touching delicacy where the honesty of words are covered in a jumble of emotion that confuses and bewilders both.  This is where the true brilliance of the film rests, as Linklater captures the essence of the reunion.  They desire each other, yet cannot say, as fear of possible pain that could visit them again if sudden erotic feelings were expressed.  Visualized pauses and awkward silence illustrates the duality of the moment where genuine emotion and logic crashes into the wall of apprehensive tension.  Nonetheless, random moments of Freudian feelings pop up without warning, which lightens up the mood between Celine and Jesse.  These moments depict the subconscious ability to surprise where repressed honest feelings infiltrate the anxious consciousness.

Throughout the film Celine and Jesse seem to be on the move while knowing of the near impending separation.  This constant movement provides a visual unrest that enhances the lovelorn anxiety within the story, which also transfers genuine empathy for the characters.  Cleverly, Linklater captures the unrest, as they walk, travel by car and boat, and feel that they must gain as much as possible from their limited time together.  Simultaneously, there is an internal struggle within one of them, which seems to want to depart in fear of experiencing the same pain again.  Yet, they hold onto the moment while learning more about each other's pain and suffering.  

There is a continuous level of serenity within the story that Linklater captures by filming the story of a summer evening in the Paris sun.  The friendly atmosphere between Celine and Jesse combined with the easy flow of the camera from location to location without any sudden movement helps to induce this tranquility.  The calmness within the story suggests that there is something special going on between Celine and Jesse, but maybe it is too late, as they already have their lives in Paris and New York.  Nonetheless, the unbroken serenity provides a notion of something special, yet it also seems as if this calmness stirs up strong emotional currents from the past, which could be very hurtful.  The story does not provide any climatic moments.  It merely continues, as the clock keep ticking pressuring them about the expiring time.

Before Sunset is a wonderful film about moments and opportunities in the light of signs and symbols that offer a chance to see the truth--the truth of what one wishes and desires while time rapidly warns that there is no time to loose.  An inner voice whispers, carpe diem, while logic tells one to ponder the long term effects.  This occurs while wisdom offers a middle path where one should follow one's own heart without listening to fear, or temporary pleasure.  All of this is shrewdly tailored in a cinematic experience that takes brilliant consideration to script, cinematography, performances, and mise-en-scene, which in the end presents truly great cinematic experience.

DIRECTED BY

COUNTRY

USA

Filmography links and data courtesy of