Before Sunrise An ode to the thrill of possibility of romance…

 

Disclaimer: This may be just another side effect of watching a romantic movie.

“

If there’s some kind of magic in this world, it must be in the attempt of understanding someone, sharing something…”

I melted...

It’s old rustic Vienna.

Girl meets boy. They get off the train. Spend the entire night.

Talking.

Nothing spectacular or fancy, Former lovers, Parents, Death, Love, sex, God, romance vs. cynicism and interestingly the problems with reincarnation.(Trust me that is real head scratcher!).

And what happens in the end?

No, get OUT of the Bollywood closet!

They leave the almost perfect romance hanging in the bar, in the cafe and in those rustic and beautiful of Vienna.

Ummhmm a DREAM! Isn’t it?

The thing that amazes me is that it was all spontaneous, all in a night!

Directed and Written by Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan (with some improvisations by Ethan and Julie, of course).Before Sunrise is a postmodern romance. The minimalistic plot, casual conversations and monologues makes it the most realistic portrayal of romance so far.

(I know, that sounded like gibber-gabber to me too, haha but just bear with me for a while)

It is a fairytale! Yes! It is!

But a tale fairly pretty close to reality. It is reflected by the utterly contrasting personalities of Jesse and Celine. They seem to have contrasting ideas and perspectives about romance, self, death and life in general. There is a flow in the conversation between them. There’s a rhythm. Two people using as little words as possible to draw each other closer. The conversation that turns into rapturously romantic flirtation and seduction. They dangerously open to each other. Exposing their vulnerable and strong sides at the same time. Both fragile in their own way which makes them aware about what exactly they are looking for in the other.

This casual and seemingly impromptu conversation is complimented by the City of Music, Vienna.

I honestly did not know that Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss were all Vienna-born.

Isn’t it amazing? But anyways, I digress.

The plot is simple.

Jesse and Celine meet on Euro rail. They get into talking and Jesse asks her to join him in Vienna for a night. They roam around the city all night talking openly with each other while visiting some landmarks. The intimacy grows and they admit that maybe it’s not them its just the night. They understand that they might not see each other ever again. In the end, they decide to meet at the same place after six months. They do not exchange contact information in a fear that the romance just might frizzle out.

After all it was 1994. The golden times.

Remember when our parents say “Beta, pyar to humare zamane me hota tha". That zamana!

Dignified, passionate and introspective in manner, a dream in today’s Tinder and Bumble using generation. The most interesting aspect of the film I think is that there’s no villain except their own thoughts and perceptions and Time. They know that time has begun a countdown and is counting it as fast as it could. The foundation of the movie is based on all three tenses past, present and future.

Another interesting thing about it is the minute I saw Jesse and Celine together I could not help but draw a parallel between them and Aditya and Geet. They too meet on the train and well fall for each other over night. (A little more fro Geet but Aditya, he did!)

Well now let’s leave something for another post, shall we? ‘cause that is a whole another conversation.

Ever wondered what if you have 12 hours with the one person you love the most? What would you do? Tell me in the comments below!