Celine and Jesse Go Romancing

Rating: 10/10 (25 April 2009)

The simplest of all movie stories: boy meets girl. And it's done pretty simply in this incredibly affecting and joyous celebration of young love; but simple, in this case, is a pathway to greatness. Simple, in this case, means intense, focused, and rapturous.
Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) are on a train, sitting in the same car a few rows apart. Celine is reading book in French and Ethan an English-language one; they each gaze out at the passing countryside occasionally. A couple near Celine start arguing loudly in German; she moves and sits down near Jesse. A halting conversation starts up but quickly becomes comfortable as Jesse learns that Celine's English is near-perfect, and that each is alone. They have dinner in the dining car and engage in small talk and learn a little about each other: Celine is on her way back from Budapest to Paris where she's going to school; Jesse is on his way to Vienna to fly back to the USA after bumming around the continent for a couple of weeks. They both seem by turns shy and aggressivethe train pulls in to the Vienna station, and Jesse impulsively asks Celine to get off with him and spend the evening wandering around the city, as he doesn't have the money for a hotel room. After a little hesitation, she accepts.
I don't know if Linklater or his lead actors/co-writers Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy were familiar with Jacques Rivette's 1974 Céline et Julie vont en bateau or not; I suspect that the director at least was. Like Rivette's film (the first half hour in particular), this is about two people wandering around a big and beautiful city, getting to know each other, and going off in unexpected directions, and like the earlier film this was co-written by the cast and heavily improvised. The obvious similarities pretty much end there – Rivette's film develops into a relatively humorous and fanciful murder-mystery, its two female leads never developing a romantic relationship; Before Sunrise is a quite serious (though never "heavy") romance and the male/female dynamic is always in play. But the two also have in common a love of the city and of exploration, a sense of the city as adult playground that is surprisingly not all that common in cinema – at least not in our suburban world today.
I don't mean to suggest that this film is burdened with heavy European art-film tropes or that it is lacking in originality – far from it in fact. For a film with such a simple storyline and some obvious points of reference both French and American (think several Judy Garland romances from the 40s in particular) this is anything but clichéd or dry; the growing joy of our two leads is palpable and their explorations all both real and ordinary ( watching street performers, eating and drinking in old cavernous bars and beautiful outdoor cafés, a palm reading, street performers, a walk through a cemetery) and fresh because of the commitment that Delpy and Hawke bring to playing characters that are certainly reflective of themselves. Celine is the relatively mature and articulate, politically minded intellectual – Jesse the slightly more posturing and juvenile proto-philosopher whose ideas usually seem more scattered, but also perhaps the more original thinker. At various points each of them takes the initiative, carrying the budding romance forward; at various points each one retreats a little, though overall it seems that Jesse is (slightly) more pushy. There are certainly commentaries about the differences between Europe and America here, but only once does it seem over-the-top (a bar scene where an American couple rudely complain to each other about the service); generally this is a film about what we have in common, not what drives us apart.
After the long and wonderful night, it's time for parting. Celine gets back on a train home; Jesse prepares to board his flight. They've made a connection, beyond a one night standthey vacillate over whether to keep in contact, finally deciding on a scheme that comes straight out of An Affair to Remember and the childish romantic fantasies we've all had: in six months they'll meet again, at the same time, the same train station. You'll have to watch the equally wonderful Before Sunset to find out how that turns out.
If there's a more feeling and wise film about two people meeting and falling in love, I'd like to see it. I've seen this three times and it's only improved on each viewing. As I said above, it's not "heavy", it's never overly philosophical or artsy, but it's not stupid either – and given the state of American romantic comedy at the time (and since), that would be complement enough; but there's also just enough fantasy and whimsicality here (how is it that the two are so often totally alone and able to indulge in deep, uninterrupted conversations in well-lighted alleys, never disturbed; would the barman really give Jesse a bottle of wine on a promise of later payment, etc) to enliven the situations without taking away from their central truth. We can see plenty of differences between Celine and Jesse developing, but also enough commonalities and real attraction that we really wonder, and want to know, what's next between them. Not many Hollywood romantic comedies leave me wanting more (in a good way); this certainly did. For once, I'm glad there's a sequel.