BEFORE SUNRISE
A film review by Scott Tobias
Copyright 1995 Scott Tobias
There's a key line of dialogue about halfway through Richard Linklater's bittersweet romance, BEFORE SUNRISE, where Julie Delpy explains that the only real magic in the world exists in the space between two people. Much of the spaces in the film are filled with dialogue but the most affecting and telling moments are the silent gaps in between.
The premise is disarmingly simple. Ethan Hawke plays an American touring Europe on a train, his last stop being Vienna, where he is to fly home to Texas. He meets a charming French woman (Delpy) on her way to Paris and they start talking. By the time the train stops in Vienna, they've already made a connection and she gets off the train with him for a romantic day and night, after which their future together is uncertain.
Like all great romances, BEFORE SUNRISE straddles the line between romantic projection and reality. We love CASABLANCA not just because of the endearing connection between its characters but also because, in the end, we know that this connection is so fleeting. Even though reality finally steps in, our memories of these emotions will stay with us. We'll always have Paris.
Linklater leaves us with plenty of memorable scenes: from that first awkward silence in a listening booth to the scene at the top of the giant ferris wheel from "The Third Man" to an exchange of feelings when the two pretend to talk to their closest friends over the phone. The physical gestures of the two actors (particularly Delpy) also linger in the mind long after the credits have rolled.
Linklater's philosophy comes across better there than in his previous films, SLACKER and DAZED AND CONFUSED. He uses the train as a perfect metaphor for time. Before we reach our final destination, it's these detours, these moments out of the rush of time, that are really important. Perhaps it's the greatest argument for this "slacker" mentality. We are far too preoccupied with moving forward in time that we never stop to take the detours that make life worth living.
BEFORE SUNRISE is a beautifully observed romance that really distinguishes Linklater from his peers. His film radiates with emotion, not simply the cleverness of the Coen Brothers or the energy of Quentin Tarantino. It announces him as a major American talent, one whose fascination with the connections between people holds infinite possibility.
**** (out of four)
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