Richard Linklater’s 1995 classic Before Sunrise turns 30 this April. The film was the first entry in Linklater’s ‘Before’ trilogy. The three films, Sunrise, Sunset & Midnight capture the romance between Jessie (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) at three periods in their lives.
“What could be”
Ethan Hawke, speaking to the Guardian in 2013, described “The first film is about what could be, the second is about what should have been. Before Midnight is about what it is.”
In Sunrise, Jesse, a young American man, meets Celine, a French woman, on a train. They briefly converse and are set to go their separate ways, until Jesse asks Celine to join him in Vienna for the night before he catches a flight back to the US the next morning. Celine agrees and over the course of the night, they discuss perspectives on life, love and time as well as experience Vienna’s quirky nightlife.
“The film sees both characters embracing spontaneity”
It’s an idealistic set-up for a film. But Jesse takes a risk and it works out. The film sees both characters embracing spontaneity and, Jesse specifically, not leaving things unsaid and regretting later, but seizing the moment.
From there, he and Celine go on to have a complex relationship; meeting again in Before Sunset (2004) before we revisit them in 2013 in Before Midnight where the realism finally comes to the surface. They are both middle-aged, with twin girls, yet remain unmarried. With this comes a lot of strain on their relationship, resulting in a major Act Three argument.
Whatever stage you are in life, there seems to be a Before film that you can relate to more. Those who dream of a fairytale romance may prefer the lighter, youthful Sunset while more seasoned viewers may understand the complexities and problems of the couple’s relationship in Midnight.
Sunrise may be part of an experimental project, as with many of Linklater’s works – Boyhood was shot from 2002-2013, ageing with its cast and his in-production Merrily, We Roll Along film is set to be filmed over the next 20 years, but it maintains a widespread appeal.
The dialogue is natural and contemplative. These characters may speak it out loud, but they say what’s on most young people’s minds, whether existential (“if we all have our own, like, individual, unique soul, right, where do they all come from?”), on romance (“Do you know anyone who’s in a happy relationship?) or our path in life (“I can never get very excited about other people’s ambitions for my life.”). As the trilogy goes on, there’s more of what-was than what-if. That fateful night in Vienna did set a sort of butterfly effect in motion that answered some of those questions for Celine and Jesse, but even in the last film, some remain to be answered.
Before Sunrise is available in a Criterion box set containing all three films
Featured Image Credit: Warner Brothers
Quotes from The Guardian, IMDb and Before Sunrise
He/Him
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