AppsScraps Movie Reviews

Feb 5, 2011

Before Sunset

Release date: 10 February 2004 (Berlin International Film Festival)

Nine years after their first encounter in Paris, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Deply) cross paths again when Jesse arrives in Paris at the end of a long book tour. The book, of course, is a veiled autobiography of his and Celine's before sunrise journeying. Both remain haunted by their first encounter and director Richard Linklater picks up where they left off dealing with the question: did either return to the train station as they promised. Before Sunset doesn't work as well as the first film. The couple are simply re-hatching old themes, driven by a plot vehicle - Jesse's soon departing plane - that feels false. Though both are wiser, sadder and more mature this time out, the passion that brought life to the first film is buried in too much psychological melodrama that is both too verbose by half and gives us characters weighted in stone rather than light. But perhaps that's the point?

My rating 6 out of 10.

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