Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21287 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-02-07
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Synopsis
When a young American (Ethan Hawke) traveling through Europe by train meets a beautiful French student (Julie Delpy), he convinces her to spend the day with him in Vienna so the two can get to know each other better. They spend their day exploring the city and before they know it, they find themselves falling in love. Richard Linklater's romantic daydream is a warm and witty comedy that uses the beautiful streets of Vienna as a perfect backdrop for the characters' youthful, budding romance.

Customer Reviews

A modern classic
Before Sunrise is a hugely romantic film, twinning the romance of travelling to an unknown but beautiful destination with the romance of two people getting to know each other.

The film involves only two real characters - Ethan Hawke (Jesse) and Julie Delpy (Celine), who meet by chance on a train and decide to spend an evening together in Prague, from where Jesse is due to get a plane home to the States.

Lovers of thrill-a-minute blockbusters beware - there is no real story here as such, the film simply follows our characters round the city as they gradually get to know one another. That, for me, was sufficient as I felt I really got to know the characters as real 3D people, which I find quite unusual in modern films. It is difficult to believe that the film is scripted as the acting is so natural and the chance encounters with other people so eccentric that you can only believe they happened - they certainly reminded me of the people I've met in foreign cities. Much also relies upon the silences between the characters and subtle facial expressions, as well as the clever use of locations. All this creates a very strong atmosphere.

If you love travel and deep romantic films that seep into your pores, you may well love this. Before Sunrise is certainly a film I can watch again and again.

A real modern classic
Two young people, American Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and French Céline (Julie Delpy) meet on the Budapest - Paris train. They start talking and quickly develop a connection. As they approach Vienna, where Jesse is flying out from the next day, he persuades Céline to spend a day with him in the city, and catch the train to Paris the next day. She agrees, and the two of them spend a magical 24 hours walking around the beautiful city of Vienna, talking about their lives, gradually revealing more of themselves, and falling in love. But as the hours before sunrise slip away, the moment when they will have to say goodbye edges inexorably closer... This is one of my absolute favourite films, it's beautiful, romantic, realistic and humorous all at the same time. The direction and the central performances are outstanding, the story perfectly constructed and the dialogue is both engaging and has a beautiful natural flow. This film is a rare gem to be cherished and watched again and again.

Outstanding!!
I should probably warn you that however I describe this film, I will not do it justice. I should also point out that this film is very much a matter of taste, and whether you like it or not will probably depend on whether you can relate to the two central characters on some level. Jesse and Celine meet on a train, get off in Vienna, and embark on a one-day and one-night relationship before they both head their separate ways the next morning. The film is dialogue driven, and we are led through a version of all those late-night conversations we've all had at one time or another, some with a different slant, some less so. The result is that the film feels like a fly on the wall experience, where we witness the entire relationship between Jesse and Celine, their quirks, faults, their hopes and fears, as they travel the streets of Vienna, and facing the relentless passing of time before they must part. This theme is constant throughout on various levels.

In that time, both characters attempt to find some profound answer to their lives, and try their hand at some 'deep', although in my opinion reasonably unpretentious, ideas about relationships, women, time, etc. The feeling is of two real people, living real lives, trying to discover each other in a race against time, and in this their exchanges do not seem in any way contrived (the listening booth scene is masterful). Jesse has his faults, as does Celine, they are not supposed to be perfect - but I find that I care for them both, perhaps more so than I have with any other film.

The beautiful backdrop of Vienna and the extremely endearing interplay between Jesse and Celine as they try to find common ground and mull over their thoughts on the world, makes for a beautiful experience. It's not gushy, it's not over the top, doesn't have any 'I-will-love-you-for-evermore' candyrock soundtrack, and it lacks the compulsory declarations of undying slush that normally have me reaching for the closest bucket..... but it is nevertheless a very tender and subtly romantic film, and I felt a tremendous sense of loss when the end credits started to roll (always a good sign). I can't recommend it highly enough (and in response to another reviewer, just to make this absolutely clear, I'm far from being a teenager.... but I love this film now as much as when it first came out).

.....told you I wouldn't do it justice!