The Dialogue is Perfect

Rating: 9/10 (25 February 2006)

Before Sunsrise is a film of dialogue. Nothing much else to say about it. Well maybe that it is very romantic. It has very little real plot. The little plot it has revolves around two people who meet on a train going through Europe. They are Jesse and Celine. Jesse is an American who is not completely sure why he is traveling through Austria and plans to get of in Venice. Celine is a french woman who is on her way back to Paris for her college term. They talk for maybe an hour before they get to the stop at Venice and Jesse has to get off. He of course convinces her to come with them and because neither have very much money they just wander around talking until sunrise when they must part for ever. They of course fall in love, have sex, and plan to meet again but deep down know they won't. It is the usual cliché of a romance but somehow it works well. Mostly because of the wonderful dialogue and the performance by Ethan Hawke. The direction is also better than usual. Somehow it works very well, much better than it probably sounds. It is also very funny.