A Magical, Elegiac Continuation Of "Before Sunrise"

Rating: 10/10 (3 July 2004)

Notice that I said "continuation", as opposed to "sequel", which is mostly a Hollywood term applied to cashing in on the success of an original film. There is nothing "commercial" about Richard Linklater's inventive, playful, wistful, and ultimately piercing story of two people many of us felt a deep cinematic bond with in the first film. For everyone who was content and beguiled by the aching ambiguity of the ending of "Before Sunrise", who felt no need to explore what became of Jesse and Celine, I think it's safe to say that our hearts still yearned to see them together. What "Before Sunset" does so beautifully is to show the effect of time on these two soul mates, how young love and youthful idealism have given way to life's weary compromises and bittersweet memories of what might have been. The torrent of glorious dialogue is back, only this time it's as remarkable for what is not said as much as what should be said. Jesse and Celine circle around each other with small talk, a rudimentary update of their lives in the intervening 9 years that slowly, irrevocably, and anxiously builds up to confessional regret. To see Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy again 9 years later is like running into two dear old friends we haven't seen in a long time. Their rapport and chemistry together is extraordinary. To those who feared this film would somehow diminish the specialness of the original, it feels like an unequivocal homecoming. And the true miracle is it leaves you wanting more. Something tells me that many of us will never get enough of Jesse and Celine, and in that creative spirit, I'm sure Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy have Truffaut's "Antoine Doinel" films with Jean-Pierre Leaud, and Michael Apted's "7-up" series well in mind. For the time being, we have this wondrous little film to be thankful for.