Well, I must have really gotten into Before Sunrise if I came back for part two this quickly. Sure, it’s leaving HBO Max in a nebulous “soon,” but I could have gone with anything for my next movie. Instead, I selected the next part in the Before trilogy where Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy just wander the streets of a picturesque European city, talk, and fall in love.
Granted, HBO doesn’t have the third and final part, Before Midnight, but it turns out another service I subscribe to does, so don’t be surprised if a review for that goes up by the end of the week.
It’s nine years later, both in the real world and in the world of the film, and Jesse (Hawke) is a successful novelist, finishing up a European book tour in a Paris book shop. His book is a fictional retelling of his night in Vienna with Celine (Delpy) when she just so happens to walk in to see him. Jesse, finishing up his interview, has about an hour to get to the airport to fly home, so he and Celine opt to have their long-delayed second day together, a story that seems to be told over real time as they go to a cafe, go for a walk, take a boat and cab ride, and end the movie in her apartment with the question in the air now not will they meet again but will Jesse get to his plane on time.
These movies aren’t exactly plot-heavy flicks. This is just two charming people with good chemistry talking about love and how much they’d like to be with each other. However, if Before Sunrise was two twentysomethings speaking with all the wisdom of people who just met at that age, Before Sunset shows a pair of thirtysomethings, more experienced in the ways of love and life. Both have actual careers now with Celine disappointed in a string of bad relationships and Jesse stuck in an unhappy marriage where the only thing he truly cares about is the son he has with his wife.
And therein lies the charm to this second movie: the characters, though only meeting for the second time and maybe this time remembering to get some contact information. If the first movie was the promise that these two could get together, this second one comes across as the promise kept. Sure, there’s still that element of uncertainty, but it’s a lot less uncertain this time around. If there wasn’t another one, this could be an utterly satisfying ending to the series as Celine sings a song she wrote, Jesse appreciates it, and he may or may not catch that flight back to the United States.
But it isn’t the last one, so once again, expect the next one to be reviewed before the week is out.
Grade: A-
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