30 years ago, one of my personal favorite  films was released; “Before Sunrise.”

The film sees Jesse, a self-proclaimed ‘dumb American’ who is on a wayward journey of self-discovery around Europe, meet Celine, an intelligent and beautiful French woman who is returning to college in Paris. 

The pair meet on a train, their initial conversation being cut short by Jesse’s stop in Vienna where his return flight to America is set to depart the next morning. 

Jesse is not eager to leave Celine and so attempts to convince her to get off the train with him and spend the day wandering the city before his flight leaves. And to his surprise, she accepts.

The rest of the film sees the pair walking and talking about everything from poetry to politics and struggling with the real feelings they are developing for each other. 

They are both young and naively want to believe that there is some destiny to their meeting, that it was meant to be and it would be foolish to write it off as a single chance encounter. 

They are also self-aware and practical, discussing all the ways that if they were to actually get to know each other and begin a relationship, they would grow to resent each other and ultimately ruin the beautiful bond they share. 

Jesse is quite paradoxical, both pretentious and profound in almost equal measure. He is dismissive of a palm reader as a con-woman but believes in reincarnation. Celine is an optimist, a romantic and also a pragmatist, always attempting to ground herself when the connection between them feels all too real. 

At its core, the film is an exploration of being young and falling for someone, while also being painfully aware that your life is not a movie and these things do not always go the way you want them to. 

The message of the film, if there is one to decipher, I believe comes from Celine; “If there’s any kind of magic in this world… it must be in the attempt of understanding someone, sharing something. I know it’s almost impossible to succeed… but who cares, really? The answer must be in the attempt.”

“Before Sunrise” is about two young people, both hopeful and dismayed by the future, excited and terrified by the way they feel for each other but trying to understand each other all the same. 

It is a beautiful film, especially when put in the context of the trilogy of their changing relationship through the years. 

If you have not already, give it a watch and try not to be moved by the complicated, terrifying reality of truly connecting with someone else and how that changes us, for better or worse. 

Categories: Arts & Entertainment