Review of Before Sunrise (1995) by Daryl K — 05 Aug 2013

Richard Linklater had made a name himself with his indie films Slacker (1991) and Dazed and Confused (1993), but for his third film, he wanted to something completely different, and headed off to Austria for this minimalist romantic drama.

Inspired by an experience Linklater had had in Philadelphia in 1989, he turned that into a film. It's a good chamber piece, set within a vast city. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) meet on a train heading from Budapest to Paris, they strike up a conversation.

Céline is heading back to Paris to go back to University, whereas Jesse is heading to Vienna where he'll catch a plane back to America. Jesse convinces Céline to spend a few hours with him in Vienna, as his flight is very early in the morning, he doesn't see the point in going to a hotel, so he asks Céline to be his companion around Vienna.

They go around the architecture of Vienna, and talk about life and relationships, and Jesse and Céline soon find themselves falling for one another, but they can only spend a few hours together. It's a touching film, and it is a great travelogue for Vienna, but Hawke and Delpy make a good screen pairing, even if nothing much happens throughout the film, it makes for a good character piece, and it's a very good romance film, which has a touch of Brief Encounter about it's bones.