A very "nice" movie

Rating: 8/10 (9 March 2005)

I finally got to see "Before Sunrise" on TV as I never succeeded in finding it at a video store. I was really intrigued as many friends, particularly female, described it as an outstanding work of art. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood or my expectations were too high but I didn't experience the movie as really exceptional. It's approach is the typical French style of never-ending philosophical comments on life in general but stripped of profound thinking and based on the concept of "badinage" which basically boils down to "just talking". Charming indeed but not unfamiliar to Europeans who at times have been saturated with "talk movies" (e.g. Bertrand Tavernier's "Un dimanche Ã la campagne", Eric Rohmer's "Ma nuit chez Maud" etc.) It is often interesting indeed to hear how people reflect on the meaning of life and how they, in their quest for honesty, are often obliged to contradict their own relative insights as the game offers no certitudes: it was Nietzsche who stated that facts do not exist (this is certainly true for human interaction), only interpretations."Before Sunrise", however, although a very sweet movie does not dig very deep and the conversations therefore have that artificial flavor which is characteristic of so many French productions. Great acting, some memorable scenes and to me a very "nice" movie which I constantly watched with a feeling of "I have have seen and heard all this .. many times before" I am convinced however that the movie will undoubtedly appeal to most people who are still in their twenties or thirties.