One question: What would you rather have: marry the wrong one then spent all your life pretending or have one magical night with The One and never see each other again? That’s one of the interesting premises of this beautiful 1995 romantic film titled “Before Sunrise”. I haven’t really heard about this movie until now but the movie got a rare 100% and 91 % Rotten Tomatoes rating for Critics and Audience respectively. A remarkable statistical achievement, and yes this time numbers do tell the truth. I love this movie a lot.
The story is simple it begins when Jesse and Celine, played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphie, met on a train and decided to spend the night in the city of Vienna and ends with the two parted on separate ways. The film is also even simpler; it’s just two people walking around talking to each other and nothing pretty much happens.
But what is really impressive about it is how these two strangers get to know each other, the way they reveal their real selves. I love the way the two characters talks about life, relationships and love. The dialogues are long but at the end of the movie you’d wish they’d have more time to talk things more. Jesse’ and Celine’s conversations are not your ordinary romance-flicks we’ve all seen before, first they don’t bore you out but rather gets you mesmerized into it as they explores the human nature and of that special relationship we all want. It’s wonderful to see their topics are as relevant more than ever in this generation’s young people. With, smart and engaging dialogue and put into mix was the amazing chemistry of the very young Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy whose performance not only made the film so real, but made those two young lovers look real young people. I have never seen anything like that before with such vivid characters and believable interaction between them.
Seriously, Before Sunrise is one of the best romantic films ever made. I’m just glad I saw something beautiful as what Jesse and Celine had shared on one evening; you know those interesting conversations they shared, the seemingly Practical Dating 101 scenes, the places they went, the things they did all in one magical night. It is so good without trying to do something big. And to answer the question above I think I’ll go pick the one night love affair, at least it’s real, something you can cherish for the rest of your life rather than fall in love with a person you’ll live with only to see the flame falter out. That scares me.
This is a quick review because I really can’t wait to watch the sequel Before Sunset, set nine years after Jesse and Celine parted ways. Now that’s going to answer another question: What if you had another chance with the one that got away?
Lourd Filmamir 