Before Sunset
“Reality and love are almost contradictory for me.” Skip this paragraph if you’ve seen both films.Before Sunset is the sequel to Before Sunrise. To summarize the events of both films. Hawke meets Delpy on a train in Europe. They hit it off, have one amazing night full of chemistry, love, all of the above. They decide to meet 6 years down the line( Delpy is living in Europe, Hawke is living in the US). Delpy doesn’t show but Hawke does. Fast forward 9 years. Hawke wrote a book about the night, he is married. Delpy shows up at a reading. They have 70 minutes together discussing how they have been what’s going on etc.
It’s honestly incomprehensible to me how effective this movie was for me considering my track record with most romance films. This is my attempt to analyze what made this movie join my top four. Before Sunset is the most romantic movie in history, while simultaneously being a story about reflection, regret, dissatisfaction, and vulnerability. The warm sensation and feeling from hanging out with these characters is something you never want to leave.
It has some of the truest dialogue in cinema. The genius comes from Richard Linklater allowing his two stars to have screenwriting credits on the film. Hawke was going through a divorce at the time. Delpy grew up a heart throb in France and was a hopeless romantic. This eventually led to the most flawlessly written dialogue ever. The two characters are just constantly saying things try at should never be said out loud, i.e, Hawke’s character talking about his child makes him feel confined to his wife. The dialogue never feels stale, nothing is ever forced or simple. That might be credited to more than just writing though, it’s also the performances from Delpy and Hawke.
Hawke so effortlessly falls into the character of the unfulfilled writer, going back to the place where he met the woman of his dreams.The micro expressions when Delpy says something that ever so slightly hints anything about her wanting him reflect golden retriever-esque hopefulness. Then Delpy, the deeply scarred woman, feeling as if she lost every speck of romance in her body when she lost Hawke. The thing that stood out the most about her performance is also when she’s silent. Hawke is ranting about how miserable his life actually is in the car, she reaches out to touch his head a comfort him, and you watch her realize she can’t. Probably the most crushing moment I have ever seen on screen. This movie is driven on dialogues and these two are just so fucking good at talking, but every little detail when one of the characters isn’t talking, they are making decisions that add so much depth and resonance to the story, and the viewers relationship to the characters.
It’s a very simple premise that Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy elevate to an unreal fucking level through their honestly blunt dialogue. There is no romantic film and cinematic relationship that i buy more than this. An underrated aspect of this film is the restraint. Every romance nowadays is drenched in sex; however, in this film, we see one hug between the two and that’s it. Yet somehow with how they pulled off the ending we didn’t need any of that. The ending is as climactic as you can get(pun intended). If you haven’t seen this movie go watch it right now.
“Even being alone is better than sitting by your lover and feeling lonely.”“In a way… I put all my romanticism into that one night and i was never able to feel all this again… it made me feel cold, like if love wasn’t for me.”