They met romantically on the train passing through Austria, so they opened the chat box, began to collide with each other (the brain is actually the most erotic organ of human beings), and fell in love with each other. They are all young men in their early twenties. The boy is American, using the Eurail pass to Vienna to take a cheap flight home; the girl is French, studying at the Sorbonne and going back to Paris. After entering the dining car together, they continued to enjoy the sky while drinking coffee. Finally, the boy had a crazy idea: why couldn't the girl across from him get off the train in Vienna with him? Then they can stay together until he gets on the plane! I reckon there have been countless movies like this, but none have been as soothing, sweet, and gentle as Richard Linklater's portrayal in "Love Before Dawn." In my eyes, this film is "The Sky of Destiny" sung by the "Forgotten Generation", but the pair of Jesse and Serena do not fit in with their peers, especially not like that generation's boring Advocate for an empty and boring life.
We don't see a single undercurrent surging in this film. There is no betrayal, exaggerated emotions, hypothetical violent scenes, or lingering drama. The hero and heroine strolled through Vienna, from noon through dusk until the next morning, most of the time in conversation without being disturbed.
"Love Before Dawn" is a movie that is very close to real life, as if every moment is recorded with an invisible lens. I remember that I have more or less said the same dialogue as in the film in my life.
Jesse and Serena are played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delby respectively.
You may think of Hawke in "Dead Poets Society" and "Golden Dog in the Snow", and perhaps even more remember the image he created in "The Four Graduates", which is completely different from Jesse in this film. Delby, who starred in Krzysztof Kieslowski's "White," played the wife who eventually regretted abandoning her husband. In this film, Delby's beauty is intoxicating, and more importantly, she is warm and unimaginative. Her English was so fluent that the script had to explain it (Selina spent some time in the US).
So what did they say in the movie? Actually there is no rhetoric. They talked about parents, death, ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends, music, and about reincarnation: the sum of the population now alive exceeds the sum of the centuries combined (if the number of souls is limited, the current Are people one-fifth of a certain soul?) Linklater's dialogues always have a kind of paradoxical interest, as in Jesse's suggestion to Serena in the film that the time they spend together should be seen Tsukuru is a "time traveler" - because the future Serena might marry a very dull husband, and she'll think, "What kind of people are the boys I met when I was young?" Then she wants to go back in time , go back and see - and now she's back, to see what kind of person Jesse is.
It's clear that Jesse and Serena both feel sexually attracted to each other, and Linklater subtly handles this. There is a very exciting scene in the film: in the audition room of a record store, two people are secretly looking at each other, but at the moment when their eyes meet, their eyes wander. The timing of the two people's eyesight in this scene, as well as the little embarrassment, are all performed so skillfully and truthfully.
I also love the scene where they kiss for the first time, in that ferris wheel in The Third Man, maybe they don't know that Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton have been on it, but It doesn't affect my liking for this drama.
The film was not made into a travel and sightseeing film of Vienna, and the Austrian capital witnessed several unexpected encounters in the story. Jesse and Serena meet an amateur actor, a fortune teller, a street poet and a kind bartender. The two of them went to church at midnight and had a drink in the park. One of them pretended to be on the phone and the other pretended to be each other's best friend to listen to the conversation, using this method to learn more about each other. In the end, they talked about having sex, and the debate on this topic was very interesting.
This film is Linklater's third work after "Urban Ronin" (1991) and "Youth and Madness" (1993). Director Lin came prepared. Linklater likes to follow how people spend their time prosaically, from meeting each other, to engaging in conversations, exchanging ideas and some erratic philosophies. Ronin is set in Austin, Texas, and the camera follows one character until he finds the next character, and then the camera captures that character until he hits a third, and so on and so forth, revealing one after another. The state of life and paragraph after paragraph of dialogue. "Youth and Madness" draws the story to the long night before high school graduation, when a group of graduating students start to think about their future. And this time we have "Love Before Dawn", following two beautiful young people. They are literary, sensitive and shy, indulging in the future life pictures to be written. Their future is full of mystery, hope, and maybe love.
Note: It is extremely unfair that this film is rated R for several swear words. It's an ideal movie for teenagers.
Before Sunrise
BY ROGER EBERT / January 27, 1995
They Meet Cute on a train in Austria. They start talking. There is a meeting of the minds (our most erotic organs) and they like each other. They're in their early 20s. He's an American with an Eurail pass, on his way to Vienna to catch a cheap flight home. She's French, a student at the Sorbonne, on her way back to Paris. They go to the buffet car, drink some coffee, keep talking, and he has this crazy idea: Why doesn' t she get off the train with him in Vienna, and they can be together until he catches his plane? This sort of scenario has happened, I imagine, millions of times. It has rarely happened in a nicer, sweeter, more gentle way than in Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise," which I could call a "Love Affair" for Generation X, except that Jesse and Celine stand outside their generation,and especially outside its boring insistence on being bored.
There is no hidden agenda in this movie. There will be no betrayals, melodrama, phony violence, or fancy choreography in sex scenes. It's mostly conversation, as they wander the city of Vienna from mid-afternoon until the following dawn. Nobody hassles them .
"Before Sunrise" is so much like real life - like a documentary with an invisible camera - that I found myself remembering real conversations I had experienced with more or less the same words.
Jesse and Celine are played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.
You may remember him from "Dead Poets Society," "White Fang" or especially "Reality Bites," in which he played a character who is 180 degrees different from this one. She starred in Krzysztof Kieslowski's "White," as the wife who eventually regrets dumping her husband. Here she is ravishingly beautiful and, more important, warm and matter-of-fact, speaking English so well the screenplay has to explain it (she spent some time in the States).
What do they talk about? Nothing spectacular. Parents, death, former boyfriends and girlfriends, music, and the problem with reincarnation when there are more people alive now than in all previous times put together (if there is a finite number of souls, are we living in a period of a 5-to-1 split?). Linklater's dialogue is weirdly amusing, as when Jesse suggests they should think of their time together as a sort of "time travel," and envisions a future in which she is with her boring husband and wonders, "what would some of those guys be like that I knew when I was young," and wishes she could travel back in time to see - and so here she is, back in time, seeing.
A sexual attraction is obviously present between them, and Linklater handles it gently, with patience. There is a wonderful scene in the listening booth of a music store, where each one looks at the other, and then looks away, so as not to be caught. The way they do this - the timing, the slight embarrassment - is delicate and true to life. And I liked their first kiss, on the same ferris wheel used in "The Third Man," so much I didn't mind that they didn't know Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten had been there before them.
The city of Vienna is presented as a series of meetings and not as a travelogue. They meet amateur actors, fortune tellers, street poets, friendly bartenders. They spend some time in a church at midnight. They drink wine in a park. They find a way to exchange personal information by holding imaginary phone calls with imaginary best friends. They talk about making love. There are good arguments for, and against.
This is Linklater's third film, after "Slacker' (1991) and "Dazed and Confused" (1993). He's onto something. He likes the way ordinary time unfolds for people, as they cross paths, start talking, share their thoughts and uncertain philosophies. His first movie, set in Austin, Texas, followed one character until he met a second, then the second until he met a third, and so on, eavesdropping on one life and conversation after another. The second film was a long night at the end of a high school year, as the students regarded their futures. Now there's "Before Sunrise," about two nice kids, literate, sensitive, tentative, intoxicated by the fact that their lives stretch out before them, filled with mystery and hope, and maybe love.
NOTE: The R rating for this film, based on a few four-letter words, is entirely unjustified. It is an ideal film for teenagers.
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