pleasant, but not as good as "Before Sunrise"

Rating: 6/10 (27 January 2005)

This film has a lot of things going for it: the acting feels realistic, especially at the beginning, when the characters meet and feel awkward after so many years apart. The conversations they have are interesting and character-revealing, and you wish you could join in. Some of the transitions between topics are clumsy--I heard that the director and actors improvised the script, so I guess they weren't able to connect some of the ideas they had on different days. But the dialogue still has more depth than most, and if you liked "Before Sunrise", you'll enjoy finding out what happened to Céline and Jesse.
However, in spite of its virtues, I thought the film was really lacking something, and I think it was a topic outside of the two main characters. The first film always had as a subtext the idea of travel, and the transient experiences travelers have. This film behaves as though these two people are the most fascinating in the world, and the camera stays tightly on them, barely showing any of the Paris scenery. There are some interactions with other people at the beginning of the film, but that's it. It ended up making me feel that Celine and Jesse had become very self-involved--more so than when they were younger.
In pettier complaints, I kind of wish they hadn't explained some of the mysteries of the first movie, especially with the "she says no when she means yes" attitude. I also hated the part where Céline says "it's a woman thing," to explain why she lied about something. Sorry, but I don't tell lies like that.
A nice bonus is getting to hear Julie Delpy play the guitar and sing--I just wish I had gotten to hear the song about her cat!