Retrospective conversation between former lovers

Rating: 7/10 (8 August 2004)

This is one of those simple but honest films about two people that meet up after time has passed and even though they have a limited amount of time they use it to try and express their emotions for those lost years. Story takes place in Paris, France where an American author named Jesse (Ethan Hawke) has just given his last interview on his book tour when he looks up and notices Celine (Julie Delpy) who he dated nine years earlier in Vienna. Jesse's book is loosely based on their relationship and even though he has to catch a flight back to the States fairly soon he decides to walk with Celine and talk.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
They continue to walk and talk about their lives for the last nine years and why they didn't meet again in Vienna six months after their meeting the first time. They go into a cafe and have coffee and later take a tour boat down the river and while this goes on Jesse mentions that he is married and has a son while Celine says that she just cannot keep a man. Their conversation ends up at her apartment where she announces that "Honey, your going to miss that flight".
This film is directed by Richard Linklater who specializes in small stories but with characters that usually come across as very honest and human. Linklater is a personal friend of Hawke's and they've worked together before so they must be very comfortable working on projects together. The dialogue is written with the collaboration of both Hawke and Delpy and there are several true references that are brought up such as Delpy being in New York during a span of time (Which she was) and Hawke mentioning that he was also which is of course true since he lives there. The film is just one continuous conversation and it doesn't seem contrived or forced, in fact the big asset is that we really do believe what they are saying to one another. Simple concept is honest in it's execution and really works on a romantic level with the beautiful location shooting in Paris and both Hawke and Delpy have a chemistry that seems to connect in an emotional sense.