Before Sunset

2004 • 80 minutes

About this movie

Oscar-nominee Ethan Hawke ("Taking Lives," "Training Day") and Julie Delpy ("The Three Musketeers") reunite in this romantic sequel to "Before Sunrise." Nine years ago, two strangers met by chance, spent a night together in Vienna, and parted before sunrise. Now, they're about to cross paths again - in Paris - where they will get the chance we all wish we had...to find out what might have been. The only problem is they have just a few hours to figure out if they belong together. Written and directed by Richard Linklater ("The School of Rock").

Ratings and reviews

This was a real treat; I had watched Before Sunrise decades ago, and loved it, but had somehow not managed to watch this sequel. It turns out to be utterly captivating and convincing. Hawke maintains his deftly crafted character, and Delpy lifts hers beyond what she managed in the first film--she really honed her craft in the intervening nine years, with inflections and subtle expression that engages and fascinates you. In one scene you can feel the characters aching to touch one another, and you catch them starting and then hesitating and withdrawing. They project their jaded selves , grapple with their insecurity, and wonder if this might be an opportunity to recapture the romanticism they thought they had lost. Fantastic.

This movie captures the whole experience of, "if I could just have one more chance." Ethan Hawke so charmingly shows how some connections must be made. Certain experiences are inevitable. To one's own self, one must be true; in spite of the consequences. The best movie of the trilogy! Fantastic last scene.

Okay, so I'll probably forget everything that was said and conveyed in this movie in a month. But the overall feeling of watching two people REALLY communicating with each other, -it honestly didn't seem like they were acting at all! . . . .I'm just, hhaahhh. I love this movie.