Well, I live in London and tend to read a lot on the tube to and from work , and I spend most eveni...
Well, I live in London and tend to read a lot on the tube to and from work , and I spend most evenings dancing - salsa, cha cha, bachata, mambo. I prefer cats to dogs, Eastenders to Corrie and really dislike marmite.
Member since:10.07.2003
Reviews:15
I first watched this film just after it was first released, in about 1996 I think. At the time I was 18 and dreamt of travelling and meeting 'the one' somewhere in a foreign city. For me then the experience shared by the characters in Before Sunrise was something to aspire to. I watched it again the other night and enjoyed it equally as much, though this time I watching it through eyes which have travelled a lot and sadly I'm no longer 18. Watching it this time was more of a nostalgic experience as I remember wandering around cities I didn't know in my late teens/early twenties, with people I had only just met, and talking about anything and everything through the night. I never met my ideal match travelling, but the romantic in me still loves the idea.
While Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise didn't initially have much sucess on the big screen, it slowly gained popularity on its release
to video, and then the 2004 release of a sequal, Before Sunset ensured that the DVD has become a must have in any film buffs collection.
Jesse (Ethan Hawke), a young American student who has just been ditched by his girfriend is on a train travelling through Europe when he gets chatting to Celine (Julie Delpy), a French girl of about the same age. She is on her way to Paris, he is heading out from Vienna to catch a plane home, but he convinces her to get of the train with him in Vienna so they can hang out and explore the city together before they have to go their seperate ways in the morning.
The film then follows them through the evening and the night to the next morning as they wander around Vienna together. The film is beautifully shot - I particularly love the scene in the listening booth of the record shop where both characters spend the duration of a song desperately trying not to catch the other's eye while sneaking glances at them. There are also some lovely shots of Vienna, both well known landmarks such as the Prater Amusement Park and the Opera house, and little backstreets and bars.
Alongside the wonderful cinematography runs some greatl dialogue. The majority of the film is made up of conversations between Jesse and Celine, and through these conversations we can see the relationship betwen the couple develop. At first they are very polite and the conversation is almost stilted, as it is when people don't know each other. By the end of the film they appear much more comfortable in each others company, interupting each other and occasionally speaking over each other in the same way that real dialogue works. This I think is one of the major strengths of the film as it adds both a sense of urgency and realism to the film.
Hawke and Delpy are equally strong as the lead characters, with neither outshining the other in terms of acting. Hawke is spot on as the slightly immature and cynical Jesse, with Delpy bouncing off him wonderfully as the beautiful yet a little bit neurotic Celine.
Once you've seen Before Sunrise, be sure to see Before Sunset, released in 2004. Set nine years after the first film, it tells us what happened to Jesse and Celine after their night in Vienna. Again, Linklater is the Director and Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy play Jesse and Celine. As the film was made nine years after Before Sunrise the actors are nine years older as well - again carrying on the feeling of reality in these films.
The soundtrack to Before Sunrise is also well worth a look - my personal favourites are Kathy McCarty's "Living Life", and Kath Bloom's "Come here", both which I feel sum up the mood of the firm perfectly. The sountrack is availble on CD together with the soundtrack to Before Sunset, the follow up film.
Unfortunately the only extra on the DVD is the trailer for the film which is a shame as I would have very much liked to see an interview with Richard Linklater, or the actors. All the same, for any collectors of films this is a great one to have in the collection.
Director: Richard Linklater Classification: 15 Original release date: 1995 DVD release date (UK): February, 2005
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 2000 - Drama - Director: Giuseppe Tornatore - Original Language: Italian - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro, Luciano Federico, Matilde Piana
Thanks for letting me know you've updated this. Re-rated for you.
Soho_Black 06.09.2006 08:55
I see you've posted this as a DVD review, but you've not mentioned the DVD. Are there any extras? If so, what are they and are they any good? If you add to this, or if you change it to be posted as a "Film Only" review, which can be done by accessing "edit review" in the top right of the review and changing the drop down menu under the "Which format are you reviewing?" question at the bottom, please let me know and I'll re-rate.
Yesterday strangers, today inseparable soulmates. But separate they must in just a few ... more
hours. Jesse and Celine are making every moment count, pouring as much living as they can into the time Before Sunrise.From Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused) co...
![Before Sunrise [DVD] [1995]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78509840.jpg "Before Sunrise [DVD] [1995]")
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