Redo The Do-Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy’s “Before Sunset” (2004)-A Film Review

DVD Review

By Sam Lowell

Before Sunset, starring Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawkes, 2004 

Sometimes I pick up a film for no other reason than I like the actor. In this case the actor is Ethan Hawke so when I saw the film under review Before Sunset I grabbed it not knowing that this film was a sequel to a film he and Julie Delpy did together in 1995-Before Sunrise (and if I am not mistaken this one has a sequel done in 2013-Before Midnight so if they want to do another they may have to start titling them with something like Before Breakfast or some such thing). In any case this one could stand alone since there are many references to their first meeting in Vienna nine years before so the conversations which drive the film make sense. Also makes me want to go and get that first film-and maybe the third one as well.  

Here’s why. Jesse, played by Hawkes and Celine, played by Delpy meet in Paris not quite by accident. He is on an international book tour touting his best-seller which was based on the hot night they had at their last meeting nine years before in Austria. All the conversation revolved around the “what if” of that first meeting. They get caught up on each other’s lives since then. Jesse is in an unhappy marriage with a child and Celine has had a series of disastrous affairs that make her question whether she is capable of love since she had returned to her home in Paris after stays in New York City and other locales. The important parts though are how much of what had passed over the previous nine years was regret over not having exchanged telephone numbers and continued their relationship-the almost classic one night stand. 

As the film moves on it is clear they are still attracted to each other and it is just a small question about whether they will see each other again or not. That gets resolved at the end (which is okay to give since this one is worth seeing for the conversations and attractions between them more than whatever plot is supposed to develop) by Nina Simone, well, a song of hers anyway although poor Nina had her fair share of unhappy romances. Of course when the deal went down Jesse stayed.