Yearning in the Winter: A Tiny Ode to Before Sunset
Do we all have the same tendencies of self destruction that prompt us to watch romantic films in the winter?
I constantly find myself asking: WHY winter? Could it be the month-long break from college? Or the below freezing temperatures pushing us inside our homes with nothing to do? For me, it’s both. I always catch myself falling back to the Before trilogy, carefully following the pair, Jesse and Celine, and their developing romance and its trials and tribulations. More so, the second film in the trilogy, Before Sunset, latches on to the inner corners of my brain and resurfaces when snow touches the ground.
Director Richard Linklater is known for his unconventional approaches to film, as in Boyhood, where he uses the same actors at different points of their lives to portray their characters. Linklater utilizes this same method in the Before trilogy, where each film was made 9 years after the previous one. This brings viewers like myself to feel more connected to Jesse and Celine. I watched the whole trilogy in two days, scared for the remaining cusp of my youth. I was just about to enter my first year of college, naive to what love had meant to me — but in those same 2 days, I felt like I had grown with our protagonists over the decade each movie had taken place. This is what Linklater had intended for his audience to experience.
Before Sunset resonated with me the most out of the trilogy. It wasn’t because of the predictable development of Jesse and Celine ending up together, but because of the build up of the two characters reconnecting after their separation in Vienna. Jesse, estranged from his wife but feeling comforted by their son, has taken a cynical view of love. Celine, is at a book signing of his during his European book tour. Progressing from there, we discover how the last decade has really changed both characters, with each conversation dropping hints of regret and the idea of what could have been. Even scenes with the tiniest hand gestures from Jesse and Celine, cater to the yearning I’ve always sought from popularized media. Linklater makes the perfect parallel, where in Sunrise, we see Jesse trying to fix Celine’s hair but backs away when she faces him. In Sunset, it’s vice versa, with Celine reaching for Jesse’s hair but pulls away once he faces in her direction. The main difference, though, is that Sunrise depicts hopefulness and a genuine connection in the works (a reference to young adulthood) while Sunset depicts burnout with sprinkles of longing scattered in the mix (a reference to middle adulthood).
I’ve only just gotten accustomed to being 22 years of age and although I am constantly experiencing new connections every day (while holding onto former ones) I can safely say that Sunset is one that I still hold dear to my heart and underneath my heated blanket. Just as Jesse and Celine appear to have switched mindsets in their perspectives of the present and future, I hope to find that growth within me and undergo intimate moments like the pair have in the nearby years to come. But for now…
“Baby, you are gonna miss that plane!” says Celine.
“I know,” says Jesse.
Cover Photo by Warner Brothers Pictures. Edited by Santiago Moran.
