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‘Before Sunset’: Exploring Paris through Céline and Jesse’s footsteps
Richard Linklater has long had a preoccupation with the way that time works, how we make the most of it, and how it affects our relationships. Just look at how he lets the narrative unfold over one evening in his earlier film Dazed and Confused.
Of course, his biggest gamble would come when he began production on Boyhood, a movie that was filmed incrementally over 12 years, but before that, he decided to make a trilogy that would span eras, forcing us to wait almost a decade between each instalment. Before Sunrise was released in 1995, ending with Jesse and Céline’s glorious night coming to a close with the promise to meet in the exact spot six months later.
But of course, we only find out if this happened or not nine years later in Before Sunset. Spoiler alert: it didn’t. Luckily, Jesse’s book tour reunites him with Céline, and in another Rohmer-esque turn, Linklater captures the pair walking and talking across the city as they reflect on the years that have gone by.
Interestingly, though, their Parisian walking tour is actually a mess, darting from one side of the Seine to another with total disregard for Jesse’s time crunch. Of course, it doesn’t come across like this in the film, but if you actually tried to follow their route, you’d be surprised to discover how impractical it actually was.
