Charming and engaging

Rating: Null/10 (8 February 2011)

Directed and co-written by Richard Linklater, this is an unusual work with a minimal amount of plot, a minimum number of characters, and a short period of time but a good deal of dialogue and characterisation. Two strangers in their early 20s meet on a train and, on impulse, decide to spend a night walking round Vienna together. Some viewers will find this slow and inconsequential but I was charmed and engaged.
The movie is made by its two young stars: Ethan Hawke as the American Jesse and Julie Delpy as the French Celine. The dialogue and the acting are both so naturalistic that we feel as if we're listening in to a real-life conversation and my favourite scene is when each character in turn pretends to be calling a friend and talks about the person they've just encountered. Jesse and Celine have never met before and will probably never meet again and yet, over the hours, they are powerfully drawn together as we are to them.