Review of Before Sunrise (1995) by Nazza1 — 08 Jun 2013

Before watching this film I had always regarded The Godfather as my favorite film of all time. Since then, every film I have watched has not met the bar which had been set so very high… until Before Sunrise.

Why is this the best film of all time? Because you will struggle to find another film like it. The plot is so straightforward; a boy is on a train to catch a flight which will head him back to America alongside a girl on the same train who is travelling back to France.

They both meet in conversation and together, decide to spend the next 24 hours within the beautiful and gorgeous city of Vienna. Sounds like an easy and simple plot but what makes this film so enthralling and interesting is what happens in Vienna and the thoughts and feelings expressed by the two lead characters, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy who portray such outstanding and realistic performances which make you forget that they are just acting.

This is a film which consists heavily of pure dialogue which may put off some people; however that is the beauty of the film. There are no explosions, car chases or action scenes but simply two people exploring each other inside a wonderful city debating about such topics such as Reincarnation, Death, Love and many more.

The conversations are so real, so vivid and so dreamlike that it makes the film it own. It's almost as though they are in an alternate reality where their normal routine life is put to a hold and they escape inside a dream world.

Towards the end where the night is over and the sun has risen, Ethan Hawke's character Jesse quotes that they have gone back into "real time" which shows that the moments they have shared and the collection of memories that they have made, are those which will last forever in their own little world and time.

A classical romance which does well to stray away from the old cheesy and clichéd films of that genre, Before Sunrise is superbly filmed and wonderfully acted with rich, pure and realistic dialogue making it one of those rare films that shine with magnificence, a film that everyone has to see.