Saturday, May 24, 2014

Befores

There is a sequel movie, consists of three, but have one single-continous story. They are Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight. 

I don't remember the Director's name (bad at remembering names, haha) but i know the lead actor. It was Ethan Hawke. 

So this is the story. 
Begin with Before Sunrise. There is two young people, a man and a woman. The man, Jesse, is an American man who is in the middle of his journey to somewhere (sorry, can't remember it). Whereas the woman, Celine, is a French girl on her way to Paris. They meet on the train. 

Shortly, they bump to each other -as a stranger for each other- and have these long but kind of deep conversation. They talk about their lives, the books they read at that time, and also about their vision and ideas and how they see life. 

At first i feel like this movies is kinda boring because they just talk to each other while continuing their trip. The set is just in the train, you know, that is so boring for me haha. 

Well, back to the story. Jesse and Celine feel that they have special connection when they talk to each other, so they accidentally make a decision to stop at Vienna and walk around, together, instead of heading to their own directions. 

So at that evening they walk around Vienna, Italy, sightseeing. And still continuing their heavy talk. About their idealism. And so on. (I don't really listen what they say)

They keep talking on the street, in restaurant, on the edge of a river, on the bridge, in front of people's house, etc. Until finally they stop at a park, in almost midnight, with a stolen wine and glasses with them. They then get drunk and, you know, make love. (Fortunately they don't reveal the make love scene. Fiuh)

And then they wake up the next day, back to the train station. Celine has to back to Paris to catch her summer school there. Jesse just... I don't know, continuing his journey to anywhere he likes. So they separate, without exchange their phone numbers, emails, addresses, or whatever. But they make a promise to back to that same place, 6 months later, which if i'm not mistaken is in around December 1995. 
And then Celine left to Paris. Jesse go to the places they visit the previous day. Just to remember that day. And Celine. And that is their story, on before sunrise, before Celine leaves Jesse. 

The second sequel, Before Sunset.
This story happens 9 years later. Jesse and Celine never meet again since 1995. One day Jesse happen to be one of the young published author. He has this promotional agenda in one of the book store in Paris. While he explaining about his novel, he sees Celine in one of the crowed. So after his session finish, he bumps to Celine, eventhough he just has very short time to catch his flight back to New York. 

The two meet again, and....talk again. Gosh! Let me tell you, this sequel consist of the stories of Celine and Jesse only ob that day. The same day. Not even a day, perhaps only hours. Two or three hours. 

They exchange the stories about their recent lives. Seems awkward at first time, but things gets easier at last. Then Celine asks Jesse if he come to Vienna that December, 9 years ago. She also tell Jesse that she couldn't make it because her grandma is dead. So she has to go to her gandma's funeral. She also say that she already prepare everything to go and see Jesse, but Life has another plan. 

At first Jesse say that he also couldn't make it, which make Celine a little bit relieve. But then it turns out that Jesse was there, 6 months after they first met, waiting for Celine in the same place. But she never comes. They surely dissapointed why they never exchange phone numbers before. 

Then they walk around the city, looking for a cafe, then ride this tourist boat. And still talking. Celine knows that Jesse is married now, so she ask how is the feeling to be married. Jesse tell her the story behind his marriage, that he got married with this woman that he used to date,9 on and off, and when she accidentally pregnant, then they married. He also says that the only thing that makes him happy in his marriage life is seeing his little boy. He feels sorry for his wife, because eventhough she is a good mother, a good wife, he can never be happy with her. 

Celine says that she also has a boyfriend already, a happy life. Great couple. But what strange is that she always feels much comfortable when they are far from each other. 

That's a little piece of stories that i can remember, hehe. 

Jesse has to catch the flight, so he take Celine to her apartment. On their way, suddenly they have this little fight, about why can't they meet that December, about why are they have to be like this, they finally meet again but with a very different condition. About how they love each other, how they feel comfortable, how they have these connection from the first time they met, but they can't be together. 

Both of them seem to be sceptical about love, about life, about happiness. Because it turns out that both Jesse and Celine already give all their hopes on that day, on December 9 years ago. 

The story ends in Celine apartment, where Jesse comes here to see Celine plays her guitar and sings for him. Celine then plays her song, on a waltz, a song about Jesse. 

And oh i missed one thing. The novel that Jesse write for about 3 or 4 years is about Celine. About their trip in Vienna, about an American man who meets a French girl and have some sweet moments until finally they say goodby before sunrise the other day. 

I may not portrait it perfectly, but i think this movie is great. I mean, it can happen to anyone. And once more, timing is a b*tch! Haha. So many people have special connection, or chemistry, but they can never be with each other because of the bad timing, or something like that. 
What i love most about this Before Sunset is that, this movie tells us about how Jesse finally meet Celine again. How they have to settle some issues in just 2 or 3 hours. How they finally realize that they have a separate life path. And how they deal with it. 

Perhaps the third sequel, Before Midnight, will tell us the more about them. I will watch it soon, but i can't wait to see their final fate. 

There are also some great quotes in this movie. I like it because it seems so real and same with me haha. So check them out! 

"I feel like I was never able to forget anyone I've been with. Because each person had their own specific qualities. You can never replace anyone. What is lost is lost."

"I see in people in every little details, so specific to each of them that move me and that I miss and always miss. You can never replace anyone because everyone is made of such beautiful, specific details. I remembered that, and missed it. Really crazy, right?"

"Each relationship, when it ends, really damages me. I never fully recover. That's why I'm very careful with getting involved because it hurts too much." 

"The past is the past. It was meant to be that way."

- Celine - 

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