Before Sunrise – Film Review

On his way to Vienna, American Jesse (Ethan Hawke) meets Céline (Julie Delpy), a student returning to Paris. After long conversations forge a surprising connection between them, Jesse convinces Celine to get off the train with him in Vienna. Since his flight to the U.S. departs the next morning and he has no money for lodging, they wander the city together, taking in the experiences of Vienna and each other. As the night progresses, their bond makes separating in the morning a difficult choice.

Director Richard Linklater has a ton of incredible movies under his belt including Boyhood, Dazed and Confused, and one of my favorite comfort movies, School of Rock, but easily one of his best projects to date is the entirety of the Before trilogy. In this case, we’ll be talking about the first installment – Before Sunrise – which is, in my humble opinion, one of the most beautiful and cozy films ever made.

The setup for this movie is so simplistic yet so great. A man and a woman meet on a train and spend one fantastic night together doing every fun thing they can think of while also getting to know one another. To some, this may sound like a boring movie. And to tell you the truth, maybe it would’ve been if it was written and directed by someone else, but thanks to the extremely sharp, witty, and comforting script offered up by Linklater and Kim Krizan, this simple story is outrageously electric.

For a movie like this, a lot rides on the two lead actors and their chemistry. If the film had hired two actors that didn’t work that much magic off one another, it could quite literally break this film because at its core, Before Sunrise is about a man and woman who realize they’re madly in love with one another, but they can only spend this one day together. This love needs to feel believable and in order to do that, you need to feel the love radiating off the actors.

Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are a match made in movie heaven as Jesse and Céline, respectively. They both deliver some of the best performances of their entire careers here, and make every scene so incredibly believable and realistic. This movie was obviously scripted, but watching Hawke and Delpy wander around the streets of Vienna and exploring all that it has to offer will make you feel as if you’re quite literally watching two lovebirds with a huge connection.

All of the shots in this film are staggeringly gorgeous that you could hang each and every one of them on your wall. Lee Daniel‘s cinematography is some of the best in any Richard Linklater movie. It perfectly captures the beauty of Vienna while also understanding that sometimes, the most beautiful things you can show an audience are shots of two people doing everyday things such as walking around and getting coffee.

Before Sunrise is a staggeringly beautiful, wholesome, and uplifting postmodern romance film brought to life stunningly by Richard Linklater, and its two lead stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.