Incredible dialogue, superb acting.

Rating: 10/10 (26 July 2005)

I liked Before Sunrise a lot. It spoke to me, at the time, of recently remembered times in my youth, when travelling in Europe, I met, and spent time with someone and then parted never to see them again. The important thing is, it spoke to me. Most movies don't. I've never taken part in a mission to deflect a comet from a collision course with Earth. I've never battled zombies while besieged in a deserted shopping mall... you get the picture. Movies are very often about escapism, but Before Sunrise was about real life.
These fond memories of Before Sunrise kept me from seeing Before Sunset for a long time. I didn't want to spoil a happy memory. But now I've seen it, I regret waiting.
Before Sunset is a masterwork, as its IMDb rating (8.4 at time of writing) affirms. The acting is so natural it is impossible at times to believe that Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are acting. While both of these actors are perfectly acceptable, in these two movies they shine. And the near ten-year gap between the movies brings out a new assuredness and maturity in their performances.
But it is the dialogue that really sets this movies apart, not least because that's all there is really. OK, there is a pleasant meander through the streets of Paris, but the camera rarely wanders from the action. And the action is the words, the expressions and the body language of the two leads. Tarantino is celebrated for his dialogue, but to my ears it is clichéd, bombastic and comic-book in style. Here the dialogue flows like a real conversation, it is almost impossible to believe that it is not really the excited outpourings of re-united lovers. Never do they put a foot wrong, never is it awkward, or forced, or unbelievable.
The movie tells a story of a tentative re-union, each afraid the other will have forgotten their past tryst, each afraid that it will have meant less to the other than to them. Slowly, gently, they discover that each holds it dearly, they also discover that the special connection between them is still there. They recriminate tenderly over past mistakes, and then they reveal the very core of themselves to each other... the gaping chasm of yearning below their seemingly content exterior facades.
If there is a single person in whom this movie does not strike a resonance, I think that person still has some living to do.