Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 4-May-03
Spoiler Rating: Low

Before Sunrise (1995)

I love this movie. I love every word, every scene, every expression on the actors' faces, the Old World backdrop, what little music there is, how it starts, and how it ends. I love the goofy characters ("I'm the cow!"), the mysterious characters ("we're all stardust"), and the lyric characters ("dream cakes and milkshakes"). I love the themes, from passion to cynicism, growing up to growing old, the meaning of life to the fragility of romance. What I love most about "Before Sunrise" is that it manages to capture one of those rare moments of genuine magic that sometimes happen in people's lives, and in such a way that the viewer, no matter who or what or where she is, can share in the excitement and wonder of it. Co-writer/director Richard Linklater reportedly based the film on a personal experience, and the indelible mark it left on him is perfectly transferred onto film.

It begins (as many good stories do) with strangers meeting on a train. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) is an American wandering around Europe with one night to go before his return to the States; Celine (Julie Delpy) is a Parisian heading home after a visit to her grandmother in Budapest. Their mutual curiosity and attraction spark a conversation in which their general personalities are revealed. He is typically American: scruffy, boyish, bright but not bookish, sardonic but not bitter, and a little bit of a doofus; she is classically European: naturally beautiful and poised, well educated, and ardently engaged and concerned with the world around her. When they arrive in Vienna where Jesse must deboard, he makes a bold proposition: why doesn't Celine get off the train with him and keep him company until his flight the next morning? She accepts, and they emerge into a dream world of their own making where anything can happen — but only for the next few hours.

The movie follows Jesse and Celine as they engage in one long, flowing conversation through the gorgeous parks, attractions, and byways of Vienna, moving deeper into the night and the mystery of each other. Linklater expertly weaves the power of foreign lands with sexual chemistry (as well as the openness of youth) to show exactly how such an episode could come about (although such things are better left unanalyzed). It's amazing that even when you don't personally relate to the characters or their particular topic of discussion, the movie continues to hold your attention because of the air of enchantment that surrounds it — this is a huge, memorable event in Jesse and Celine's lives, and that alone makes it important. In addition to the powerful forces of travel and sex, "Before Sunrise" also contains a hint of carpe diem; a recurring theme of death seems to remind both the characters and the viewers why such events are necessary in the human experience.

Jesse and Celine usually express opposing views about life and love, but the one trait they share is that they are both looking outward for answers instead of inward, so their theories and ideas are not deeply philosophical and have a sort of bare bones, universal appeal. Although a close study would reveal a carefully planned script, Hawke and Delpy make their interaction and dialogue seem entirely natural, which results, as with any good meeting of minds and hearts, in lively mix of thought, humor, and sentiment. Thus we find them sharing their first kiss on a ferris wheel at sunset (the very site where Harry Lime delivers his famous cuckoo clock speech in "The Third Man"); seriously defining their dreams for the future on a bench in a quiet alleyway; admitting to past romantic failures while playing pinball; and — in the most squirmalicious scene in movie history — sampling a folk song in a record store listening booth. A tantalizing element of suspense is added toward the middle of the picture, when the couple openly addresses the fact that they are sharing a fantastic adventure removed from reality, which will probably not last more than one night. This sets up the inevitable ending (inevitable in the structure of the story, as well as in real life), when they must separate and determine what the future will hold. They, and we, are left with the question: can these people build a life out of a moment of magic? The beauty of Linklater's movie is that regardless of what happens next, in a way they already have.

Copyright © 2003 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.