Before Sunrise

1995

Director: Richard Linklater

Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Key Elements: Story – Lines – Characters – Concept

My Review:

This is an interesting movie. An American and a Frenchwoman are chatting on a train traveling through Austria. On a whim, He asks her to get off the train with him to keep him company for his last few hours in Europe. She agrees, and they get to know each other better while checking out the nightlife.

The most engaging thing about this movie is that it isn’t driven by plot twists or quirky situations. You don’t even feel like you’re watching a movie, but just overhearing a conversation between two people. The writing does an excellent job of communicating the chemistry between the characters.

What’s funny is that most of the movie they talk about how disillusioned they are about romance, but by the end, they’ve fallen for each other.

Clip:

Quotes:

• Alright, I have an admittedly insane idea, but if I don't ask you this it's just, uh, you know, it's gonna haunt me the rest of my life
  - What?
  Um... I want to keep talking to you, y'know. I have no idea what your situation is, but, uh, but I feel like we have some kind of, uh, connection. Right?
  - Yeah, me too.
  Yeah, right, well, great. So listen, so here's the deal. This is what we should do. You should get off the train with me here in Vienna, and come check out the capital.
  - What?
  Come on. It'll be fun. Come on.
  - What would we do?
  Umm, I don't know. All I know is I have to catch an Austrian Airlines flight tomorrow morning at 9:30 and I don't really have enough money for a hotel, so I was just going to walk around, and it would be a lot more fun if you came with me. And if I turn out to be some kind of psycho, you know, you just get on the next train. …Alright, alright. Think of it like this: jump ahead, ten, twenty years, okay, and you're married. Only your marriage doesn't have that same energy that it used to have, y'know. You start to blame your husband. You start to think about all those guys you've met in your life and what might have happened if you'd picked up with one of them, right? Well, I'm one of those guys. That's me y'know, so think of this as time travel, from then, to now, to find out what you're missing out on. See, what this really could be is a gigantic favor to both you and your future husband to find out that you're not missing out on anything. I'm just as big a loser as he is, totally unmotivated, totally boring, and, uh, you made the right choice, and you're really happy.
  - Let me get my bag.
• I had worked for this old man and once he told me that he had spent his whole life thinking about his career and his work. And he was fifty-two and it suddenly struck him that he had never really given anything of himself. His life was for no one and nothing. He was almost crying saying that.
• Why is it, that a dog, sleeping in the sun, is so beautiful, y'know, it is, it’s beautiful, but a guy, standing at a bank machine, trying to take some money out, looks like a complete moron?
• It's just, people have these romantic projections they put on everything. That's not based on any kind of reality
• You know what drives me crazy? It's all these people talking about how great technology is, and how it saves all this time. But, what good is saved time, if nobody uses it? If it just turns into more busy work. You never hear somebody say, "With the time I've saved by using my word processor, I'm gonna go to a Zen monastery and hang out". I mean, you never hear that.
• If there's any kind of magic in this world it must be in the attempt of understanding someone sharing something. I know, it's almost impossible to succeed but who cares really? The answer must be in the attempt.
• I used to think that if none of your family or friends knew you were dead, it was like not really being dead. People can invent the best and the worst for you.
• I don't know, I think that if I could just accept the fact that my life is supposed to be difficult. You know, that's what to be expected, then I might not get so pissed-off about it and I'll just be glad when something nice happens.
• I feel like this is, uh, some dream world we're in, y'know.
  - Yeah, it's so weird. It's like our time together is just ours. It's our own creation. It must be like I'm in your dream, and you in mine, or something. And what's so cool is that this whole evening, all our time together, shouldn't officially be happening.
  - Yeah, I know. Maybe that's why this feels so otherworldly.
• You know what I want?
  - What?
  To be kissed.
  - Well I can do that.
• But then the morning comes, and we turn back into pumpkins, right?
• Maybe we should meet here in five years or something.
  - All right, all right, five year- Five years! That's a long time!
  It's awful! It's like a sociological experiment!

Stills: