If you loved the two original films starring Ethan Hawke and July Delpy then this third in a trilogy of continuation might be just the ticket. And the way the film is left, I’m banking (Left Bank of Paris) on a fourth installment…
This time we meet Jesse (Hawke) and Celine (Delpy) nine years later in Greece (Before Sunset). And almost two decades have passed since their first meeting (Before Sunrise) on that train bound for Vienna.
When the film opens Hawke is a divorced father. Someplace between Before Sunrise and Before Sunset he married and had a (now teenage) son. They’re at the airport and Hawke’s is sending his son back to his mom across ‘enemy lines.’ He’s the typical father full of divorced ambivalence… Wanting his son, wanting his new life with Celine and their twin daughters, wanting it all – together – but feeling torn, as summer comes to a close.
Moments later he’s in the car with Celine, arguing about life, the daughters asleep in the backseat. The scene is so raw and voyeuristic you feel as if you’re in the seatbelt!
These scenes takes place over the course of one day but pack a lifetime worth of confessions and doubts and angst all told in real time. Oddly the very long scenes miraculously rivet us. It’s just a shame Delpy doesn’t have that ‘it’ factor to ever make her launch into movie star. But wow can she act! Can they both act! The thirty-minute non-stop theatrical scene in the hotel room cements the words “Oscar nomination.”
After watching this, you’ll feel no need to pick sides, understanding both their plights. But you may also decide to book a flight to Greece, or some summer European destination where life is old-fashioned-family-values, sitting around a table sipping wine with loved ones in the fresh air.