How close can you get to perfection?

Rating: 10/10 (23 October 2007)

I found this movie on IMDb during the times it was much higher in ranking...and watched it before the Sunrise'. However, even with doing so, to me the movie didn't feel it lacked anything. I felt it was perfect in every way.
I don't remember how many times I've seen this movie by now but I find myself totally drawn into it each time. It's just that every line, every face expression seem incredibly real and the chemistry between the two is wonderful.
In a nutshell, Before Sunset is about Jesse and Celine meeting again 9 years after their one night in Vienna and talking their hearts out on the streets of Paris. However , somehow , none of their words sounds boring. This is a movie with not much going on at the surface but so much hidden on an emotional level. The outcome is an 80 minute journey through the most intimate thoughts of two people, disappointed and matured by life, only through plain dialog and close camera shots.
What I love about this movie is how it manages to make everything feel so real, natural and unpretentious. The long camera shots work wonders in creating this feeling of shear reality, simply caught on tape by someone passing by. Just real life, bittersweet and intimate,folding out in front of you. Simple and brilliant, I think these two adjectives perfectly describe its acting, its dialogs, its manner of filming.
As actors, Ethan and Julie must be one of the most honest on screen couples I know. The way Jesse looks at Celine, their face expression, their words, it all seems incredibly true and natural. I think the fact both actors participated in the writing of the script made it possible to create a feeling of authenticity rarely seen before.
There are so many scenes I love in this movie...basically all are special in their own way, as each gradually reveals one more bit of the characters, their past, their frustrations, their regrets, their real thoughts and feelings for each other.
One of the strongest and most emotional scenes for me is their talk in the car, when they finally unburden themselves and reveal how each other's memory has haunted their lives. The way in which touching perfection for one moment in time can make you permanently long for another glimpse of it in everything around you but won't ever be found the same in somebody else.
Finally, my favorite scene, Julie's expression while singing the waltz...so painful and moving. And then denying everything: "So do you plug in this name for each guy that comes by?" "Yes, of course... what do you think, are you nuts?"
The ending is intriguing but one of the best it could have been, leaving so many questions to be answered. Will it be possible that they stay together? Is it possible to find that perfection again after all the time lost? Maybe like Jesse said at the beginning in the library, it all depends if you're an optimist or a pessimist...