My Review of "Before Sunrise"

Before Sunrise is one of those classics that a lot of critics talk about but I never paid any attention to. It came out back in 1995 and at the time I wasn't mature enough to watch through it. Now that I'm way older I have the patience and maturity to appreciate the nuances of this movie.

This movie starts out on a train. The main characters Jesse and Céline are on this train but they don't know each other yet. Jesse is an American tourist heading to Vienna to catch a flight back to America. Céline is a French citizen traveling back to France from Budapest.

The two aren't seated together but there's a couple sitting next to Céline that seem to be having a huge argument. The argument gets so uncomfortable that Céline decides to move seats and that seat so happens to be next to Jesse. She of course catches Jesse's eye and you can see the flirtatious gazes at one another.

You can tell Jesse wants to do something and he does. He's got the jitters but yet he has the courage to come up with a little ice breaker. I'm not even sure if this would be something that would happen as organically as the movie in real life today with cell phones. It's such a different time and you can see how life without cell phones can be advantageous sometimes.

The two eventually go get something to eat in the dining room and chit chat about what they're up to. Unfortunately they find out that Jesse's on his way to Vienna and it's the next stop. He's going back to America and it's basically going to be his last night. Jesse comes up with the crazy idea of asking Céline to join him in Vienna to kill some time. Luckily for him she agrees.

It's a really interesting movie because you really see a whole relationship happen in the duration of a whole day. There are a ton of random encounters with random strangers in Vienna. It's a pretty romantic way of looking at finding love while traveling.

The predicament seems pretty ideal but it feels so natural throughout this movie. Even the conversations that they have are pretty interesting as they talk about their ambitions and we see who they are as people. We see little bits of themselves revealed little by little and understand their motivations in the way they conduct themselves.

Ultimately we all know that Jesse has to go back to America eventually and the relationship has to come to an end so it's pretty suspenseful by close to the end of the movie as you don't really know what's going to happen. Céline has already made a pretty big gesture by joining Jesse in Vienna so it's not far fetched to think another grand gesture may happen.

It's also interesting to hear about what the attitudes were like in the 90s when it came to topics like feminism and what people's goals in life were. They could totally redo this movie in a more modern setting. I guess that's what the movie The Sun Is Also A Star. The comparisons between these two movies only made sense to me after watching this movie.

Overall, I thought it was a sweet and innocent romance movie that a lot of people will find endearing. There is a lot of character exploration so not everyone will be interested in this type of movie. It really made me feel like I was actually there on their date. I have to give this movie a 7.5 out of 10. It was enjoyable but I don't think it's exactly what I would search for in a movie.