Film As A One-Act Play

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 2004)

What happens when the opportunity to follow up on a brief romantic encounter years later presents itself? Ethan Hawke and Jule Delphy show us how it might go in "Before Sunset", and viewing their exploration of the emotional minefield that most of us seem to have picked through in our own lives we reap large rewards. Along the way we are able to see one of the finest pair of performances in recent memory.
Delphy (Celine) and Hawke (Jesse) meet in Paris when he is on a book promotion stop at a bookstore. They had met for one wild and fleeting evening years before; while they had vowed to meet again, it never happened and thus they wove their separate paths. Celine's appearance at the bookstore is so moving for Jesse (he spies her in a crowd as he speaks about the book) that he confronts her as soon as the opportunity arises when the interview is concluded.
What then ensues is the cat-and-mouse back-and-forth alternately teasing and serious game of catch-up and reacquainting. Long shots of the pair in semi-serious conversation are quite phenomenal. Maintaining lengthy animated and effortless (uncontrived) dialogs in long continuous takes demands incredible talent. Both actors carry the ball so well it is noticeable there is never a false moment. Save at the end. Celine's unfortunate song is a little more than we can take; it seems like the placement of a second cherry atop a sundae, ergo more than is required and too sweet for our palate.
You can either think of "Before Sunset" as a one-act play or a perhaps even as a pair of interwoven monologues. Either will do, as the art here is really the incredible acting and chemistry of the players.
In an interview with director Richard Linklater (he of "Tape"  another play-like film, "Slacker" and "Waking Life") we hear him note that "Before Sunset" is "My own cinema dreams of my characters' lives still intertwining with each other." (http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf). And intertwine they do, capturing an exciting snapshot of a couple dancing moth-like around their mutually generated flames.
This is no action flit, and we are spared any real surprises. And there are only a few memorable lines by either character; this is love-exploration, mild dabbling in those areas left to lovers and those with life scars they slowly choose to expose. But this movie is testament to how that early encounter nine years before had shaped their lives and in the story's circularity we are satisfied in the end how things might now go.
Rating: Three and a quarter stars.