I saw this sequel to Before Sunrise a few days back but kept putting off writing about it. I couldn’t make up my mind about several things. Let’s give it a try now.

I can’t comment if it is better then Before Sunrise — the comparison would be unfair; apples to oranges. Before Sunrise was about romanticism, this was about pragmatism; that was about idealism, this is about reality; that was almost a perfect fantasy, this reflected a bitter truth.

The movie — standalone — is a great piece of art, no doubt. The writing, which was the highlight of the first movie, is as good and keeps the conversation engaging. It differs vastly in the setting and plot and thereby, theme. Jesse and Celine, now 9 years older, meet once again in a European city — Paris, this time — and once more, Jesse has a few hours before he flies out of Europe.

Jesse is married with kids now; Celine, in a steady relationship. The characters are mature and have changed with time since they last met. They still hit it off in the same old way, trying to be like the person they were 9 years earlier, but the masks soon wither.

The first movie had an open end. In fact, it reflected the thinking of the audience — if you were an optimist, you’d think that would meet — as decided — after 6 months; a pessimist would, well, be pessimistic. Still, the end came across as positive. In Before Sunset, they are both not exactly happy with their lives and partners; the question of what-could-have-been still lingers, but they know the time to find out has long gone. They accept things as is, live a few memorable moments and part. It leaves you with a pinch at the end, because the question of what-could-have-been is not just unanswered, it just ceases to matter anymore. The movie, accordingly, ends sooner than expected — well before they part — because it has no significance anymore.

We still have no clue if they’ll be great together, but as shades of reality appear, we suspect that there is — after all — no ideal relationship. At the end, they are all deviations from a non-ideal one. That is probably why most movies end where they do, in a moment of happiness or closure, without probing further. That is why most songs end where they do, when the music is back home, at the ‘home’ chord/note/scale.

Technically, I didn’t have any complaints. The script was written by Richard Linklater and the lead actors, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. It makes a difference when the lead actors pen the script, for they have lived the characters and know the thought process of the characters better (assuming they are good actors). I saw this happen in more than just a couple of scenes — my thought process was exactly how the next dialogue went. The uncut long scenes were a joy : I often realized well into the conversation that the scene was uncut. Editing is minimalistic, done only when absolutely essential. Acting is superb, without seeming forced (something Sonali Kulkarni often does — forced good acting).

I strongly recommend both movies to everyone. If nothing, you’ll get food for thought.

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An extremely silly joke that I couldn’t resist : Why does the director of Before Sunrise/Set hate static libraries ?

A : Because his name is Richard ‘Link-Later’.

OK sorry, I’ll stop.

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