Before Sunset
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Sun 5 September 2004 // 19:00
Mon 6 September 2004 // 19:00
Tue 7 September 2004 // 19:00
*
Thu 9 September 2004 // 19:00
BEFORE SUNSET
(Linklater / 2004 / USA / 81 mins / 35mm / cert15)
(Sun 5th-Thurs 9th / 7pm / £4/3/2ttt)
Richard Linklater reunites Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy), nine years after a chance encounter one night in Vienna, at the end of which both expressed an undying attraction and a promise to meet again six months later. In the present, Jesse has come to Paris as part of a book tour to launch his first novel 'This Time'- its theme muses on the importance of seizing the rare moments in life, and evidently turns out to be a barely fictionalised account of his first meet with Celine. Since the lovers never exchanged last names, Celine discovers Jesse's presence via a photo and turns up at the signing.
The film runs real-time which heightens the tension as the couple savour this stolen chance to explore how their lives might be different. Linklater re-visited his lovers briefly, in animated form, for a segment of WAKING LIFE. In BEFORE SUNSET there is further allusion to the theme of alternative realities. The film runs real-time which enhances the lucid tension that builds as their pasts are revealed and they (and we) realise what is and what could have been, as the minutes tick away. Largely scripted by the actors, its very naturally performed- the director largely stays away from complex camerawork, instead simply documenting these long considered characters dissecting concepts of love romance and idealism.