The Cinematheque

“Before Sunset has the buoyancy, grace, and formal intricacy of a Mozart chamber work … What Linklater has been up to all along [is] a backhanded epistemology of love, in which at any given moment nothing is known for certain.”

Amy Taubin, Film Comment

The mere existence of a sequel to Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise reveals something that both aggrandizes and demystifies the connection between Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke): they see each other again—in Paris. The nine years that separate the two films are echoed within Before Sunset​’s narrative, though this chasm is instantly closed by the duo’s chemistry—until memories, faded dreams, and regrets seep into their conversation. Again their time is limited by a departure deadline, but one so strict it renders this film’s achingly fleet 80 minutes as nearly real time, captured in fluid long takes by cinematographer Lee Daniel. Tonally pitched between the daydream of a what-if fantasy and the dread of unrecoverable time, Celine and Jesse’s reunion is one where their respective situations of life, love, and supposed happiness are less neatly aligned. Yet out of these incongruities come moments both conceptually thrilling and emotionally sublime.

Best Film, Best Director
Village Voice 2004 Film Poll

“Linklater and his two creative leads have managed a miraculous transformation of the characters from once-callow lovers into grown-ups teetering on the edge of eternity … I doubt there will be a sequel—Before Sunset is perfect as it is.”

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer