The most realistic looking romance movie ever made

Rating: 10/10 (31 March 2000)

SPOILER WARNING:the following review might contain information that readers could interpret to be a spoiler, although the ending is not revealed of course.
This is unquestionably the greatest love-story ever made, a movie without action, entirely dedicated to the development of a love between 2 students from USA and France during their 13 hours in Vienna, walking and talking. According to another Internet film-review site this is the best "remake" of the classic movie "Roman holiday" and any further attempts for remakes could not be better.
The only things that interrupt their talks are very short meetings with people in the streets, but luckily these are very short, as they do not contribute much interesting to the film.I liked the parts where people speak German to eachother, not those that speak English to our couple. It doesn't seem realistic, compared to the rest of the film. The greatest merit of this film is that they talk like in reality.We start to believe we are with them as friends.Also the photography and editing (long shots) contribute to this feeling. A lot, if not all other romance-movies are made according
to the same predictable story-line: people meet, get attracted, but always there's some dramatical event upsetting their relationship before everything ends well. Fine examples of other films filmed in Europe are "French kiss", "Only you" (1994) and "Romance on the Orient Express". But "Before Sunrise" positively differs from these in that the story-line is far more realistic and it doesn't look like a promotionfilm for these countries like these others. Actually we get to see little of the largest tourist attractions of Vienna. This film entirely depends on the chemistry between the 2 actors and they play their most realistic roles. Ethan Hawke's role compares with "Great expectations" in which he also falls in love with a woman who seems to be beyond his reach (played by Gwyneth Paltrow there).Celine seems to be the more mature and intellectual person of the two. The story is highly gentle, passionate but without music so it's not as immediately evident that something great is happening here between these two.The topics of their talks match with the locations. The film looks realistic but when watched closer one would notice several facts that show that this is still a story that could not have taken place this way in reality. The director (who is the co-writer) makes them travel all over Vienna in a way a normal couple could or would never do and there are some factual errors.Just to mention a few (you can easily spot more): when they arrive at the station the clock shows it's 8.30, yet they meet 2 men who tell them the museums are closing.Celine says in the train that she is terrified of flying yet she has studied in Los Angeles. The church where they go is not open in the evening, but THEY get in. They travel a total of some 35 miles if you calculate the distances between each of the locations and they travel twice a few miles south after a visit to the centre. Also strange is that they only once talk about something they see during their walks, as if Linklater didn't know where he would film this story when he wrote it or he wanted us only to concentrate on the story. Remarkable is their tendency to compromise and reach an agreement on a subject. There's no big conflict, just the mutual acceptance of eachother and their vulnerabilities. This also doesn't seem terribly realistic to me when you see how different their background and characters actually are and given the fact that they only have 13 hours (so why would 2 people try so much to do what it normally takes to develop a relationship?).But what IS believable is that they at first hide certain things and then change their stories when they see they can let go all fear For me the best parts are at the pinballmachine,as you can see this was partly improvised (you can't write a script in which you know how the balls will roll) and the narrow alley where Celine says my favourite line "If there's any kind of magic in this world it must be in the attempt of understanding someone sharing something". This also explains the above-mentioned willingness to compromise. The end is not very believable and in contradiction with the maturity they have in the whole film. I don't think many people would do what they do at the end. This film tries hard to be realistic and unrealistic at the same time. Nevertheless it is a film I keep watching over and over again as there are no others with such depth in the talks and such sympathetic characters. My only objection against the characters is the profanity Celine has in her talking (but just 3 times).Quite strange,you'd expect that more of this American man, but he is more thoughtful in his use of words.This rates 10/10 for me because of how addicted I get to watch this film again and again and my longing to see the places where they walked.