Before Sunrise

As you’re watching the movie, Before Sunrise, you don’t even notice that the majority of the film is purely all conversation.  I don’t think that it’s completely fair to say that this film doesn’t incorporate some element of “love at first sight” because Celine does make a reference later in the film that she had seen Jesse and it was not accident that she sat next to him when the couple on the train was fighting.  However, I think “love though conversation” is different from the typical story of “love at first sight” because it’s more genuine.  Most people don’t experience “love at first sight” and it’s much more realistic to become more connected to someone through talking.

              One of the scenes that struck me the most throughout the whole film was when Jesse and Celine come across the young poet, and he reads the milkshake poem to them.  I found this poem peculiar because it makes me wonder if this young poet is used to seeing young adults who have just met each other fall in love?  On another note, this poem speaks a lot about new love.  In the last two lines, it says, “Don't you know me? Don't you know me by now?”  This relates to Jesse and Celine perfectly because they feel like they know everything about each other, but they truly don’t.  The same goes for love in general when it’s new.  Even though people think they are meant for each other and they know each other, the truth is nobody can know another person that they haven’t know for a while.

            I don’t think that Jesse and Celine will meet again in six months, or if they do, I don’t think that they will have the same connection that they had initially.  Jesse and Celine are complete polar opposites.  In the scene with the gypsy, Celine believes what she is told, while Jesse makes fun of the whole thing.  We don’t just see them disagree in this scene, but throughout the whole film.  Jesse even describes himself as a “thirteen year old boy” and Celine describes herself as an “old woman”.  As much as the two are entranced by each other, I just don’t think that they are compatible enough to sustain a long-term relationship.  Their time together is not pointless, though.  People care more about the future than the moment.  Whether they spent twenty-four years or twenty-four hours, the love they feel for each other is still important and real.