Before Sunrise

Before Sunrise

Richard Linklater 1995

               “Before Sunrise” and its sequel “Before sunset” are films that have been sitting on my ever growing list of “Films I need to take time to actually watch someday” for years. Now that I have seen the first film in the series I can definitely say it was worth the wait. This gem of a film charmed me on so many levels. The setting of Vienna, one of my all-time favorite cities, made me want to go back in a big bad way the city is beautiful and the film really did a good job of capturing that beauty.  The score at the beginning and end of the film really set the tone for a European adventure.

           Jesse and Celine are just two strangers who happen to meet on a train headed towards Vienna, Austria. Jesse is an American who is killing time riding the trains after a bad breakup, and Celine is just on her way back to school in Paris. When the two first meet they begin to have these deep stimulating conversations that also make the viewer think abstractly. These often strange, but interesting, conversations are really the driving point of the film. The two decide to get off the train in Vienna and spend the night walking around the city and talking, getting to know each other in the process. Though like all chance encounters they know that their relationship has an expiration date (roughly 12 hours as it happens) and as the film progresses they have to deal with the knowledge that this could be the only time they ever see each other. While this film is definitely a love story it’s one of the most accessible love stories I have ever seen on film.