American or European?

Rating: Null/10 (26 November 1999)

Commentary on the movie "Before Sunrise" A consideration on whether the movie is an American movie with an international slant or a European movie made from an American point of view.
After having seen the movie "Before Sunrise" by Richard Linklater starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy several times, this paper has given me the opportunity to watch it in a completely different manner with a more critical eye instead of as a common spectator. Set completely in the streets of Vienna, it's the improbable story of an American College student (Ethan Hawke) looking for his answers to a crushed love life during an extended vacation through Europe on an Eurail pass. On his way to Vienna he meets a French student (Julie Delpy) on her way back to Paris after a vacation with her grandmother, and asks her to spend his last day in Europe with him before he has to catch his plane back to the States.
Richard Linklater, having made such movies as "Slackers" and "Dazed and Confused", had people pretty set in their beliefs of what to expect: Another flick based on the aggravations and twists of the usual All-American-Teen's life. To everyone's great astonishment though, he gave them a whole lot more than what they had bargained for, as well as giving critics a definite run for their money when they saw that Linklater was capable of a lot more than just your roll-of-the-mill teen movie. I've had a quite a bit of difficulty pondering over the dilemma as to whether the movie is either American, or "European" . Some aspects of the movie force you to immediately decide on either one or the other, but, once you look over the other facets, you soon see that there's a lot more too it than a simple decision of one or the other. This movie is far from being a "Black or White" standard, but more of a plethora of shades of gray that have to be sorted through one by one. So taking each and every point on which the movie could either be classified as being one or the other, and coming up with the most with a valid reasoning as to whether it is either an American or "European" movie seems to be the most plausible solution. First of all, the filming could be much more readily compared to that of a "European" movie than an American movie's. For example, there are quite a few scenes where nothing is said, and the characters either look out at the scenery or onto some event (the belly dancer, or looking out the window on the train), at each other (the café scene), or are plainly seen strolling down some lost Viennese back street in deep thought (pick your choose). Even when they are talking, there are usually several shots of both characters which, unlike the more common close up shots of the speaker in American movies, are a lot more decentralized, and obscure. These can differ from a distant shot over the shoulder of one of the two characters, a shot from the end of the street or square where they are talking, or a ground shot of both characters at once. Whereas in an American movie there is a definite transition between different places, with a quick explanation of the change of scenery, there are no definite transitions of movement in "Before Sunrise". The characters will sometimes suddenly turn up in another location with no explanation as to how they got their, talking on a completely different subject than two seconds ago in the previous location. Of course due to the set time of the movie, and the necessity of capturing it all in a standard film length, this is an obvious necessity, if not a little unnerving at the beginning if we haven't caught on to what's going on. Unfortunately though, for someone who knows Vienna the transitions may seem a little confusing, as they often switch from one locale to another on the complete other side of the city, and then suddenly appear two minutes walk from their first position. The movie is completely devoid of any action, and sports little music whatsoever other than what the two characters hear as they stroll though the city, which is quite a change from the continuous barrage of sound and movement we've come to expect from even the most docile of American movies. Even though it may feel unerringly quiet, and obscure at the beginning with everything so lighthearted, and calm, you learn to sink into the atmosphere, and start to truly believe the movie as being a plausible if not true story. This makes for a pleasing relief from most movies out today, which have a constant watermark of "Fiction" just visible throughout the movie, and where each of the main characters has his own theme song. As for the story, I feel that it greatly differs from both American, and "European" movies altogether. No one is out to kill anyone, no one has a deep dark family secret, neither of the two is in the middle of a psychological crisis bordering on suicidal, nor does the world get shattered by some freak natural disaster in which both characters become the unlikely heroes. Instead it's simply about the two college students, and their mutual stay in Vienna. The whole story revolves around their lives, their desires, their personal philosophies, and basically any crazy thoughts that may pop into their minds. That's it. No thrilling underlying plot, just bursting at the seams to get out and surprise us, no irrelevant twist in character or story to confuse or defy us to believe the impossible. Just the simple, but short relation between two people and their conversations among themselves and those they meet during their stay. Neither of the two turn into an alien a la George Arrakis, nor are they in search the long awaited "first time" as in "American Pie" (well, at least not to that extent). But regardless the lack of an incredibly complex plot, the movie ends up to be more than satisfying if you ever found yourself in a similar conversation, ever lived through any of their many points of conversation, or even wished you were in the shoes of either of the two to enjoy such a simple yet gratifying moment.
The actors are even harder to classify than the story due to their insistence on avoiding the regular stereotypes of being either plain American or French. Even if the movie were seen purely from the point of view from one of the two characters, the two would still resist classification due to the free manner in which they act, and the simplicity with which they blend into each other. Hawke may start off as the suave college guy that thinks he's going to get himself the girl, but he soon turns out to be a thoughtful romantic who doesn't seem to be completely at ease with women for the simple reason that he doesn't understand them; especially those that can put up with his ways, and effortlessly return his remarks bite for bite. Delpy on the other hand emanates a strong air of cool intellectual sophistication seeming to have everything clear in her head, but quickly proves herself to be a lot more free-speaking, and confused than Hawke, who was meant to be the one with the irresolvable problems. They definitely manage to pull their roles off very well on both sides (if not a little less at the end when they both turn into bumbling adolescents), keeping to their characters in both words and actions. Even when they stray off from their usual selves (For example, Hawke's romanticism in the Ferris wheel compared to his comments on the fortune teller), there always seems to be a probable explanation later on in the movie for their apparent deviation, and even then they never wander very far from what one would expect of someone in a similar situation. Their conversation, like their acting is very hard to lock down as being either of one or the other genre, as both American and "European" filmmakers have hardly ever touched onto movies that are based purely on conversation and so little action. To make life simple, you could just tag it as being "European" for the simple reason that there is nothing but conversation in the movie, which would be more probable in a "European" movie than in an American movie, but that would be taking a very simplistic path out of a much more complicated question. The question isn't really whether the conversation is more American or European, as it touches equally on both styles, but in different degrees, as well as in different circumstances. The question thus becomes, are both characters truly one or the other type (notwithstanding the fact that they both act very much out of their stereotypes), or are they simply a smorgasbord of both American and European views, giving the scriptwriter a way of creating the situations at his own guise? One could break down their conversation into several different categories: memories, thoughts and philosophies, explanations, and simple "down-time" conversation. At the beginning of the movie, Delpy has little trouble discussing memories, and past events, while Hawke has a lot of trouble telling Delpy any of his due to their social background. He hasn't gotten used to the fact that he'll be spending the next fourteen hours with her, and still hasn't gotten a feel for her what she's actually like, so he's reticent of letting too many personal thoughts out. Delpy on the other hand finds it a way to get the conversation going, jumping onto new conversations as a way of getting to know Hawke, expecting him to respond with similar memories or events. Delpy doesn't wait to point out that it was Hawke that had started the game of asking each other a question, but this only makes Hawke all the more uncomfortable with the situation. When they start discussing their points of view on different subjects, such as feminism, and views on life, they both seem to hold to their respective nationality's theories, but often explain themselves in ways that would be more probably for the other person's upbringing. Hawke for instance is often quoting lines from authors and poets that he heard or read, while Delpy bases most of her points on personal experience. She also seems a lot more inflexible in her views while Hawke easily ends up swaying to her objections, accepting her comments with very little retort. While we could expect this to be the other way around due to their national educational backgrounds, this could of course be entirely owing to the personality of the two characters instead of being seen as a stereotype, but it would seem to be a very sudden change from the "opposing nations" pattern readily visible throughout the rest of the movie. As for their explanations for their situations in life and love, they seem to correspond to their respective stereotypes more than in any other aspect of the movie. For example, Delpy takes a lot longer to describe her relationship with her ex-boyfriend than Hawke does, but for a completely different reason than he expects. Hawke is simply on a guilt-trip over the fact that he's with his newfound companion so soon after having broken up with his girlfriend only several days prior. Delpy, on the other hand sees her relational break-up with her ex-boyfriend as more of a moral experience that has formed her life into something new and utterly confusing, which must have some higher meaning that she hasn't been able to grasp yet. When they finally explain their situations to one another, Hawke quickly finds himself at a loss for words in Delpy's explanations on how she imagines herself getting over her metaphysical dilemma while banging her frustration away on a pinball machine. For Hawke, the question was simply whether it was right to be in the arms of another woman so soon after breaking off his last relationship, but this doesn't comply with her complex dissection of a similar event, but taken in a completely different fashion. Their opposing views could be put aside as being a man's views on a relationship clashing with those of a woman, but they fall into similar situations several times in the movie on completely different subjects, with Delpy in full sway on a certain point, and Hawke completely lost, only just able to keep up his end of the dialogue. At certain moments of the movie, usually after a long debate on one of their philosophies of life or a session of frank justifications, the two end up talking about nothing. By nothing, I mean the type of conversation one has when there isn't much to talk about, or simply babbling while waiting for a new topic of interest to liven up the dialogue (such as the scene under the statue in front of the Natural History Museum, or at the café before the fortune-teller comes by). During these times both Hawke and Delpy seem to find an equal ground where they both just let out what's on their minds, and more often than not find that they both hold similar views on a lot of things. While all their heated discussions that dominate prove that they both have their own opinions on different facts of life, these moments allow them to see that they're closer than they had imagined, despite differing opinions. I don't believe this belongs to either one of the two stereotypes, but becomes more of a conciliation between the two of them. If they had spent the whole movie bickering and biting at each other without ever finding a subject on which they held a common viewpoint, the ending would have been quite different indeed, and the movie would quite tiresome. But with those moments when they find themselves coming closer to one another and understanding the other's views is proof that everything could still work out.
After having gone over the myriad of possibilities that could categorize this movie as being either American or "European" I think it would be most accurate to say that it is neither of the two, but more of a halfway stretch between both worlds. True, in considering the filming, music, and basic story line, it would be easy to label it as being "European", but the truth, as always, is always a lot more complicated than that. The movie treats every subject from relationships, to biases of different nationalities, from philosophy to gender contrasts. In nearly all of their conversations they end up agreeing on a halfway point of understanding. Were either of the two characters in their home country, it would have been a completely different story. But due to the fact that their meeting took place in a country equally foreign to both parties put them both at a disadvantage, and finally proved that, all dissimilarities notwithstanding, there's always a way of finding a satisfactory compromise that'll leave both parties even happier with the outcome than they had thought possible. If it were up to me, I'd have every European and American Company that had to work collaborate with one another watch the movie to demonstrate the fact that it is possible to get along, no matter how complicated it may seem at the beginning