It’s been twenty-eight years since Before Sunrise was released on 27th January 1995. It’s one of those films which you feel like watching again and again, whereas at a first glance, it looks like a simple film about two strangers meeting but as the journey progresses, you witness the complexity between the characters & emotions. Directed by Richard Linklater and co-written by Linklater and Kim Krizan, the film is a cult favourite for all hopeless romantics.
The ensemble cast of the film includes Ethan Hawke as Jesse, Julie Delpy as Céline, Andrea Eckert, Hanno Pöschl, Karl Bruckschwaiger, Tex Rubinowitz, Erni Mangold as a palm reader, Dominik Castell as a street poet, Haymon Maria Buttinger as the bartender, Bilge Jeschim, and Adam Goldberg.
In this film, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy star as two young people who meet and whose lives are forever changed on a train from Budapest to Paris. They may have only one night, but anything can happen before Sunrise when soul mates find each other. It opens with a chance encounter between two solitary young strangers. After they hit it off on a train bound for Vienna, the Paris university student Celine and the scrappy American tourist Jesse impulsively decide to spend a day together before he returns to the U.S. the next morning.
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Revisiting Before Sunrise
The First Conversation
This scene shows how the two leads even got to talk to each other in the first place. Do we need to thank the loud couple or look at the beauty of travelling alone, which leads us to converse with strangers around us? Especially if there’s something peculiar happening, it often urges people to find someone else, who thinks/feels like they are, at the moment. That small interaction moves on to a better conversation where the unfamiliar becomes familiar.
The Impulsive Decision to Get Off in Vienna
There’s some fascination and mystery that gets us talking with a stranger with whom we hit off as well. Many such encounters remain a small memory but what if we had pursued them, talked a little longer or decided to explore a city together? Not many take the chance, especially in today’s age we would just exchange numbers or social media. I think this aspect of the film, where she decides to follow her impulsive feeling is what we vicariously live through.
The Scene at Record Store
If this scene doesn’t give you butterflies or make you feel something then, I am not sure what will. The palpable chemistry between the two actors is just insane to describe. Both of them want to make a move but try to gauge the other person and in the end just not doing anything. Also, the song playing in the background just tells it all about what could be going on in the character’s minds.
Different perception of Love
When talking about some of the best dialogues, this scene often comes to mind and the dialogue – “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.” When we hear both the character’s perspectives on life and love we could resonate with either of the two.
Maybe Céline’s perspective implies what many think about in the early days of life but when they don’t find what they are looking for, they often turn to what Jesse is implying. Either way, as the dialogue says, “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.”
Before Sunrise is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.
What is your favourite moment from the film? Let us know in the comment section below.
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