Michael C here to honor a film with an emotional impact that hasn't diminished over countless repeat viewings...
Scene: The Car Ride
When people talk about the appeal of Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy they tend to focus on the enchanting dialogue or the romantic European locations, but I think one of the big reasons this series is so beloved is that it avoids all the contrivances usually deployed to keep couples apart in movies...
In most films it’s an external obstacle. The central lovers would surely get together were it not for that war raging or that elaborate deception or if they weren’t so occupied with that bus rigged to explode if it goes under 50 mph. In the Before films there is only Jesse and Celine, continually mustering the courage to act on their feelings, over and over, throughout the decades.
In mid-90’s, Ethan Hawke’s Jesse and Julie Delpy’s Celine took a chance by acting on a brief unspoken connection on a train traveling through Europe, and were rewarded with a magic 24 hours together in Austria. In Before Sunset, we find that they spent the intervening years cursing their younger selves for being so careless with that opportunity. Instead of exchanging information they left their possible future together up to the whims of fate. Now in the their thirties they understand the rarity of that kind of connection, and how foolish they were to let it slip through their fingers. But as the stakes are raised, so too is the bravery required to act on their feelings. When the better part of a decade is traversed in one heart-stopping cut from a baby-faced 1995 Celine to her more angular but no-less-beautiful 2004 incarnation, what do they do with this most improbable of second chances? They chat. They keep it light. They pick up the conversation from their youth, as if all their potential happiness isn’t hanging in the balance of every word spoken and unspoken.
And they manage to keep up the casual pretense for most of the movie, too. At least until the damn bursts in the car scene.
Even before that car ride we sense things are off from the first film. There is an urgency simmering under the surface in Paris not present in Vienna. They talk as if they are afraid this opportunity will vanish if they stop, like it's a dream they are struggling not to wake from. Linklater lets shots run long and keeps the pair in the frame together so we can observe their body language carry on a separate, parallel conversation. Before Sunset takes on the structure of a real-time thriller. Jesse’s impending flight is the ticking clock. A touch on the arm becomes as dramatic as a drawn gun, and there is a nerve-wracking moment on a bench when it seems like Jesse is going attempt a kiss. All the while the presence of Jesse’s wedding ring goes unremarked upon for the first half of the film, building suspense, like Hitchcock’s classic bomb under the table.
It’s only when time is nearly up, on the car ride back to Celine’s apartment, when the fear of saying nothing finally overtakes the fear of saying something. Only what comes out isn’t romantic, but bitter and angry and sad. It’s as if by skipping all the usual plot convolutions, Sunset is freed to go deeper and delve into the consequences of experiencing a brief taste of perfect youthful romance. Surprise! They’re terrible. Turns out it sets an impossible standard that poisons all future relationships. Celine even tries to jump out of the car at one point, flapping her hand at Jesse in an imitation of his non-stop talking, something we’ve all probably wanted to do to an Ethan Hawke character at one point or another.
There is a hold-your-breath moment in the car when Celine reaches out for Jesse and pulls back before he can see it. That moment of hesitation perfectly sums up why this series resonates so strongly with audiences. It’s the same reason why “Baby, you are gonna miss that plane” absolutely wrecks people. Both are an acknowledgement of how damned terrifying it is to gamble with your heart. How even after the cathartic admissions in the car that the events of the first film mean the world to both of them, Celine still needs to deliver her famous closing line half-jokingly in character as Nina Simone, just to admit to Jesse that she doesn’t want him to go.
