X
- 2004
- R
- Warner Independent Pictures (WIP)
- 1 h 20 m
- 2004
- R
- Warner Independent Pictures (WIP)
- 1 h 20 m
Summary The timeless romantic story of two questing hearts and minds whose powerful bond defies time and place. [Warner Independent Pictures]
Directed By: Richard Linklater
Written By: Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Kim Krizan, Richard Linklater
- 2004
- R
- Warner Independent Pictures (WIP)
- 1 h 20 m
- 2004
- R
- Warner Independent Pictures (WIP)
- 1 h 20 m
Before Sunset
8.7
Where to Watch
Summary The timeless romantic story of two questing hearts and minds whose powerful bond defies time and place. [Warner Independent Pictures]
Directed By: Richard Linklater
Written By: Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Kim Krizan, Richard Linklater
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal acclaim
Based on 39 Critic Reviews
91
90% Positive
35 Reviews
35 Reviews
10% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal acclaim
Based on 39 Critic Reviews
91
90% Positive
35 Reviews
35 Reviews
10% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The result is a peculiar small gem, a true Linklater gem. The verity of the film, rather than any novelty or twist, keeps us fixed.
Although there isn't a single kiss in this love story, it's intensely erotic -- and more to the point, it's not afraid of eroticsm's juicier and more forthright twin, carnality.
User Score
Universal acclaim
Based on 344 User Ratings
8.7
94% Positive
322 Ratings
322 Ratings
5% Mixed
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
1% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
User Score
Universal acclaim
Based on 344 User Ratings
8.7
94% Positive
322 Ratings
322 Ratings
5% Mixed
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
1% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
This is a great film. This is a great film. This is a great film. This is a great film.
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Lean and effective. Older and wiser. Sexier but also in many ways less charged, more measured, but with a new kind of tension. Sunset is an emotionally charged powderkeg. And yet it's so undramatic and so human. Clearly, Linklater is a raw filmmaker and all involved are practising what they preach, they aren't proselytising, but they are making films about people who are segments of themselves.
Stylistically and tonally, it's a totally different film, it feels like it's grown, it's radical in just flowing almost in real-time, it follows from behind or infront, just watching them as they snatch just a little more time, something movies can rarely show well. It has the most exquisite ending I've ever seen. A soft and generous compliment to the cab ride moment where we see the deep empathetic sadness of two people somewhere they never dreamed they would be. I found it really cathartic and emotional at the end. Not sure why. I guess I’m their age now, maybe that's it. This has always been my favourite, but viewed as a trilogy, it's a perfect middle part.
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It's great to see an American filmmaker - and a successful one at that - willing to simply train his cameras on the actors and let them, and their characters, come to life.
Summer sequelitis is upon us, but the season is unlikely to bring anything more remarkable than Richard Linklater's sweet, smart, and deeply romantic Before Sunset.
This is a sequel just as intriguing as the original.
All foreplay and no climax.
Our favorite couple is back in this nine year reunion, waiting to see this amazing absorbing couple finally will stay together or not or will be a couple or not. What Linklater is so good at when it comes to making these romance films is adding realism and making some factual messages about love and also shows us the talent that stars/co-writers Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy have in the screenplay, they make these words nuance erotic. The pacing is amazing, the cinematography is fabulous and the locations are spot on. Nine years later, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) travels around across Europe giving readings of his novel he wrote about him in Vienna with Celine (Julie Delpy). After his reading in Paris in a library Celine finds him and they spend a day before Jesse again has to leave for a flight. Their both in a relationships now, and Jesse has a son and a wife, but as their strong feelings for each other start to return, both confess a longing for more. The film still is engaging and the chemistry between Hawke and Delpy is charming and witty, it's equally good as the first one. Grade A+
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I re-watched both 'Sunrise' and 'Sunset' in preparation for 'Before Midnight'. 'Sunset' is my favourite of the two, perhaps the most beautifully romantic movie of all time! Kudos to the director that makes himself invisible and reels you in with his skill and kudos to the actors that absolutely make you fall in love with and root for them! What strikes me is how each time I watch this movie, I discover something new relatable in the conversation. And then there are the questions! Is duty more important than authenticity? Is time relevant? Is love worth the risk? The price? What does it mean being mature and responsible? Are the choices we make truly our own or is fate and circumstance the defining factor? I find Jesse to be the more hopeful about life in this round, in spite of his miserable marriage and Celine the more vulnerable in spite of all the armour she has built over the years to avoid pain. The boat and the car scene are for me among the most memorable moments I have ever experienced at the movies. The ending could not have been more fitting and perfect, but somehow I have no doubt about the outcome, he has no choice but to miss that plane. Can't wait to listen in on another walk and talk of these two in a month or so in 'Before Midnight'. Am I a goofball or what!
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If the reader likes movies with endless dialogue, this movie is ideal. It is the sequel to the movie “Before Sunrise”, in which the aspiring American writer Jesse has a sudden and intense romance with the French Céline one night in Vienna. The action of the film takes place nine years after that memorable night, and shows the reunion of the two: both are married to other people and live their lives, he wrote a book in which he recounts the meeting of the two under other names and acquired the fame he was looking for.
The film was filmed in real time, that is, the time the characters talk is the exact length of the film. It's a conversation full of confessions and personal data interspersed with unimportant things, which seem a bit improvised by the actors. For me, the film was not particularly interesting because of its dialogues. I think it would have worked better as a play than a movie.
The film features Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, back to the characters they already know. Both are good, do interesting work, and are well mentored by Richard Linklater. In addition to the endless dialogue between the two characters, the film has a good cinematography, in which the filming in motion does not shake or shake, with the camera moving with a pleasant smoothness. The film, in fact, is a short walk through Paris, with everything that the city of light has to be noted: its streets, its pleasant cafés, a beautiful walk along the Seine.
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I am amazed that people have the same response to this film as they do to Before Sunrise. My experience was the polar opposite of the one I had with the first film in this series. The dialogue in Before Sunrise was fresh, romantic, and funny. The characters were endearing, I cared what happened to them and I wanted them to be together. In Before Sunset the characters have become jaded. They have white people problems. Life just is not turning out how they had hoped. They have good jobs, and people who love them but it is not enough. They want the romance back in their life, for things to be new again. Where in the first film it felt like they respected each others opinion, they were free to disagree without judgement. Here it feels as though they are preaching at each other. I'm right because my experiences dictate that I'm right. Your opinions are less valuable then mine because you don't have the same worldly experiences as me. These are certainly not unusually drawn characters for 30 somethings with similar cultural backgrounds, and are probably accurate more times than not. However spending an hour and a half with no one but these two people was not the pleasure it was the first time around, and at times was insufferable.
My respect for Hawke's character lessens even further in the third act when he begins to talk about his marriage. This is not a spoiler as we are to notice his ring right away and frequently throughout the first half. It is obvious he values little of the institution he has entered into, and instead has taken the typical modern approach to his vows. Perhaps and likely all of my issues with the film are Linklater's point. Perhaps these are typical views for people their age. my problem is I spent the first film with unique people. Characters who were looking at the world differently, with compassion and understanding. I couldn't wait to spend time with those people again. Those people are gone.
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I fell asleep after 15 minutes and woke up 30 minutes later, only to see both of them STILL walking around Paris, engaged in endless and meaningless babble. There is absolutely no tension between both characters, and if there were, it would be annihilated by the incredible amount of senseless words that come out of their mouths. The whole movie reminded me of two girls, or two housewifes, talking to each other. You see it every day. They talk for hours, and every man wonders: how can a person talk so much ? In addition, and that is what I was thinking during the entire movie, every man simply wants to scream: SHUT UP !!!
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Production Company
Warner Independent Pictures (WIP),
Castle Rock Entertainment,
Detour Filmproduction
Release Date Jul 2, 2004
Duration 1 h 20 m
Rating R
Tagline What if you had a second chance with the one that got away?
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Online Film & Television Association
• 2 Wins & 5 Nominations
Village Voice Film Poll
• 2 Wins & 4 Nominations
