First of all, I need to say that one of my favorite all time film moments is the moment in Before Sunrise when Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are in the listening booth of an old Austrian music shop and he wants to kiss her so bad–it’s actually difficult to look at his face without feeling that longing too. It’s just thrilling film making! And it’s so simple to understand why it works. It all boils down to chemistry between the actors and a director who is willing to let that lead the story at its own pace. But it would be virtually impossible to recreate that moment again. That’s a magical moment, plain and simple. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that they shot it in the first take.
So then there’s Before Sunset, which takes all the promise of that first film and the magic between the actors, and tries to envision their cinematic future. Formally, this film seems much less free than the first one. There’s a lot that the actors need to say to each other and not so much time for them to seemingly discover what’s important about each other. And whenever a plot point gets touched upon, the writing seems heavy handed. We loved Before Sunrise because, not always, but at certain moments, there didn’t seem to be a writer. Before Sunset has fewer of those moments.
But to say that it doesn’t have something is plain crazy. I think the key to liking this movie is realizing that the annoying aspects of these characters is what’s most real about them. Ethan Hawke’s tacky, overtly sexual comments, for example, seem so honestly inevitable. His thin veil of machismo is so perfectly crafted over his intense self-consciousness and vulnerability. He’s not subtle. He’s not cool. He’s sort of horny and obnoxious.
And she is equally obnoxious. She’s tense and graceless. She doesn’t say anything funny on purpose and her references are a bit boring. In fact, it’s only when she talks about herself personally that she really seems appealing.
Sexual tension is a really important part of this film. Whether or not they will end up together is the central question and also the fantasy motivating the characters, pushing the plot along. Julie Delpy’s character, Celine, inserts sex into the conversation with what she hopes will seem like intellectual frankness but underneath, there’s something manipulative going on. She’s using it as a ploy to excite him and keep his mind trained on her. But when she does get that reaction she looks away from him; as if she’s angry with herself.
There have been plenty of female rom-com characters who try to be cute, or seem affected for the sake of men, but, it’s rare to see a woman acknowledge that performance with subtle facial expressions of remorse. At the same time, Ethan Hawke looks like he’s actively trying to recapture the connection they had the first time they met and even though those attempts looks awkward on film, it feels real because they are so clumsy and awkward.
If it’s possible, their characters seem more excruciatingly vulnerable in this film than they did in the first one.
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