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That was the general territory of Before Sunrise, Richard Linklater's 1995 movie that starred Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Hawke and Delpy played Jesse and Celine, strangers who meet on a train and spend an idyllic night together in Vienna, vowing to meet again exactly six months later.
So ... what happened? Did they meet? Were they fated to be together? Did it all work out?
Some of the answers can be found in Before Sunset, a sequel opening in theatres today that catches up to the former lovers some nine years down the road. What has become of Jesse and Celine?
Set in Paris, Before Sunset begins with Jesse, now a novelist, doing a reading at a Parisian bookstore. While he chats with readers and signs books, he talks about his novel, which is obviously an account of the night, nine years ago, he spent with Celine.
Then he looks up to see Celine herself watching him from the back of the room. It's quite a moment. They talk. It turns out that Celine lives in Paris. The two decide to go and get coffee before Jesse rushes off to the airport and catches his flight back to America.
Both Jesse and Celine are a bit nervous at the beginning of their encounter, but as they walk and talk and catch up with each other's lives, the profound connection between them is re-established.
Before Sunset consists of a conversation, albeit a complex one that covers work, romantic love, sex, yearning, memory, commitment, compromise, coincidence, disappointment, passion, men, women, the passage of time and songwriting.
It's an amazing film.
Before Sunset is all in the writing; it was written by director Richard Linklater and his co-stars, Delpy and Hawke, and it's quite unlike anything else. Except, of course, Before Sunrise.
The film plays out in real time. It's a bit like a documentary in some ways, immediate and realistic, and yet the real subject matter is ethereal -- inner life, philosophy, belief systems. Above all, Linklater and his actors have captured how things change (or don't) when the endless possibilities of youth are replaced with the realities of adult life.
Fans of Before Sunrise wanted to know what would become of Jesse and Celine, and yet, sensibly, may dread any sequel. The good news is that there's nothing to dread and plenty to celebrate. The really good news is that you needn't even have seen the first movie to appreciate Before Sunset.
(This film is rated 14-A)