Restores my faith in American cinema

Rating: 9/10 (4 August 2004)

It's been nine years since Jesse and Celine kissed and parted ways at that train station in Vienna, vowing to meet again in six months.

Director Richard Linklater's premise for the sequel to his delightful 1995 film, "Before Sunrise," is simple: Jesse's now an author pimping his book in Europe, while Celine's making the world better in Paris. As chance would have it - or, is it truly chance? - Jesse's signing books at Celine's favorite Parisian bookstore.
Linklater and his actors, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, take us on an indisputably charming, funny and poignant journey as Jesse and Celine reconnect in the few moments Jesse has before flying home to the U.S.

Hawke and Delpy are now nine years older and it shows. After Linklater lets us glimpse the younger Jesse and Celine in a few quick flashbacks from "Before Sunrise," we realize Hawke's marital problems seem to have taken their toll and Delpy might have lost that celestial loveliness, but still looks beautiful.
And like Jesse and Celine, we, too, have grown older, though not necessarily wiser. Jesse's edgier; Celine's slightly more neurotic. These days, their views on life, love and the world might not be as Panglossian as before, but more rooted in reality.
"Before Sunset" is all about the what-ifs in life, something most, if not all, of us can identify with. And about getting a second chance at correcting a mistake.
Linklater shoots Jesse and Celine's stroll through Paris in lengthy, unobtrusive takes. Hawke and Delpy are so relaxed in their roles and with each other that we easily believe they're two soul mates seeing other again for the first time in nine years.
Hawke and Delpy might have helped write the script, but several moments seem improvised. There's the initial awkwardness as Jesse and Celine skirt around what they really want to know about each other. Then, as they invade each other's personal space, the emotional walls come down. They chat about their lives, loves, coincidences that well might have led to something else for both of them.
Both actors are sensationally good in this picture. This might very well be Hawke's finest performance. He and Delpy have terrific chemistry; their emotions are genuine; they play off each other as if they're two old friends awfully comfortable in each other's presence. And the writing's authentic, especially during two scenes - on a water-taxi and, later, in a SUV. There's nothing about this film that rings false.
And just when we're wondering how Linklater will end the story this time, he produces a sublime conclusion to a masterful, magnificent movie.