Before Sunset

CinemaSerf

It's been almost a decade since "Jesse" (Ethan Hawke) met "Celine" (Julie Delpy) on that Austrian train and now he is a successful author on a book tour and visiting Paris. Guess who walks into the store seeking a signed copy? Did he turn up in Vienna six months after their last meeting like they agreed? Did she? That's the basis for their rekindling of the rapport that started back then, but after their initially enthusiastic welcoming of the other is that spark still going to be there? Like last time, he has a plane to catch so they only have a little time and decide to explore this city for a few hours whilst reminiscing about that night that inspired the substance of his successful novel and filling the other in on what's happened during their eventful lives. Perhaps because both are older and have acquired baggage in the intervening years, but this film didn't work so well for me. The joy and innocence has been replaced, quite naturally, by something closer to soap and the fine line between the observational humour and potency and that of melodrama is crossed once or twice, especially as she is in the taxi. It still has moments of intimacy that both generate well - without being particularly sexual, and the writing still has some of the sharpness that gave these two characters something engaging to say but the more set-piece nature of their exploration comes across as more strained and the freshness has been replaced with a disappointing cynicism for life and the choices they made and the people they chose. Maybe that was the point - but we've plenty of movies that illustrate dyfunctionalty and unhappiness, I'm not sure we needed this to take that route too.