Before Sunset

On Sunday I saw the new film Before Sunset with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, directed by Richard Linklater, which is a sequel to Before Sunrise.  The earlier film was the story of Jesse (Hawke), an innocent young American, who is on vacation in Europe.  On the train heading to Vienna, he encounters Celine (Delpy), a cunning French seductress who sets her sights on him.

They spend a romantic day and night together in Vienna.  But, after nearly being ensnared in Celine's web of Old World sin and corruption, Jesse escapes back to freedom and safety in America.

Before Sunset takes place nine years later.  Jesse is a published author now, and he's in Paris promoting his latest book.  And there, sure enough, he again falls into the clutches of the wily French seductress Celine.

I loved this movie.  No, it's not just because Julie Delpy is a Major Babe and I would like seeing even a bad movie with her starring.  Although the latter part is true, this really is a good movie.

The "before sunset" part comes from the fact that Jesse encounters Celine just hours before his plane leaves to take him back to safety in America.   Jesse has a wife and a young son now.  But he can't resist falling for the charms of the cunning French temptress, at least to the point of going for coffee with her before his plane leaves at sunset.

Will he catch that plane?  Will he escape to salvation in America?  Or will he succumb to the devious ways of Celine and be drawn into her path of perdition once again and trapped in the decadence and immorality of Old Europe, possibly this time never to extricate himself?

This makes for considerable dramatic tension from start to finish.

The film is also enough to make even a jaded old cynic believe in romance again.

There are some wonderful touches in the movie, some of them deceptively small.  At one point, Celine is standing in the wind talking to Jesse and a strand of her hair is blowing into her mouth while she's talking.  It's a subtle but effective clue to her attitude at the time.

In another scene, in an emotional moment she reaches out to touch his head when he's looking away from her.  But she hesitates mid-motion, and withdraws her hand before he turns back to her, so he never sees the gesture.  Linklater obviously has a delicate sense of timing.

I think the ending is just brilliant.  It surprised me, even though I could see it coming.  I won't say anything to give it away.  Just that it's definitely not a typical Hollywood happy ending.  But one of the most memorable I've ever seen.

Sure, it's nerve-wracking to see the plight of this poor American guy struggling deperately to avoid being sucked into the traps and pitfalls of Old Europe.  But it's more than worth the effort.