Empire 500 (2008): #110
Empire 301 (2014): Not Included
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
Director: Richard Linklater
Screenwriters: Richard Linklater & Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy
This is a rare and beautiful thing. A sequel that feels better than the original and entirely necessary, not a tacky, moneymaking add-on but something different and unique. The distance of 9 years between the films clearly helped, as did the obvious passion of the three main creative leads, Linklater, Hawke and Delpy, for the project. The film starts with a playful and funny reminder of the original film through the eyes of Jesse, who has published a book about it. Nine years later, the setting (Paris instead of Vienna), the format (lots and lots of conversation) and the type of encounter remain similar, but Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) have moved on. Jesse is seemingly locked in an unhappy marriage, while Céline has been hurt numerous times in her love life, to the extent that she has given up trying. Nine years later, the characters feel wiser and more grown up than on their last outing, and the stakes and urgency feel much higher as both have made serious commitments.
My problem with the original film was despite the conversations and the characters, there felt like a lack of narrative, stakes or urgency. This film feels different and rectifies that, as it firstly is far more condensed, playing out in real time The conversations are also just a bit more personal and real, due I guess to the fact that Hawke and Delpy wrote the script themselves with Linklater. There is more tension and conflict between the two characters this time, while the central 'will they, won't they?' dilemma feels more pressing and interesting. We also know these characters already so the film has the liberty of being able to instantly go into the meat of things. For all these reasons, this film takes a dramatic step above Before Sunrise.
As the film races towards the end, another sequel feels inevitable and needed. I still haven't seen Before Midnight, but I will sometime soon, and I am looking forward to completing the Before trilogy a lot more now that I have seen this gem.
5/5 Stars
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