Before Sunset dir. Richard Linklater
Opens Fri July 2.

Before Sunrise dir. Richard Linklater
Available on video and DVD.

Before Sunset is the sequel to Before Sunrise, which is a movie you probably didn't see; released in 1995, as in nine long years ago, it was here but a heartbeat, heaped with praise but terribly marketed, and for the most part ignored by the public. Both films star Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Hawke plays Jesse; Delpy plays Celine--together they are perhaps the most honestly romantic couple you will ever see on screen. Their meeting alone, in Before Sunrise, is perfectly casual: On a train to Vienna, Jesse, an American on the last leg of his journeys, strikes up a conversation with the very French Celine. That's it; they don't meet cute and there's no improbable banter--they just chat and joke and lightly confess to each other.

What's great about these early moments, and what immediately elevates Before Sunrise far above your standard romance fare, is how ordinary it all seems. This is one of those rare fantasies that most of us can believe in, perhaps one we've even lived through ourselves. Not only does Jesse and Celine's conversation flow splendidly, they also feel true as characters. She's reading Georges Bataille's My Mother and he feigns like he knows it; leading her to the lounge car, he gives the door a macho punch to open it, then puffs his chest out as he lets her pass. This is how most guys would act when presented with such a situation. We can't help it.

Celine likes Jesse's feather-ruffling, which is why, at his absurd suggestion, she shrugs off her apprehensions and gets off the train with him in Vienna. The plan is no plan at all: Jesse flies home in the morning and, with no dough for a hotel room, he intends to wander the streets for the night, preferably with Celine by his side. Of course, she joins him, and much wandering and talking follow. Their conversation has no real focus or trajectory; like all situations where flirting is called for, the information shared weighs little more than an anecdote. They talk about friends and families and past lovers. They occasionally annoy, frustrate, and confuse one another. Celine calls Jesse on his bullshit; Jesse likes Celine calling him on his bullshit--they inch their way beyond their thin initial connection and, by the time daylight dims, they're ready to get down to business.

For the most part, sex in movies is little more than an abstraction: blocking, lighting, framing, swelling music--the polish exposes it as a fraud, removing nearly all of what we might identify with. In Before Sunrise, director Richard Linklater obviously knows this fact well; not only does he not force an aesthetic ideal upon his audience, he barely gives the act of sex an airing. The anticipation, of course, is the real thrill, and when Jesse and Celine finally get around to approaching the topic of sex, it's almost an afterthought; drunk on wine, their conversation stumbles upon an opening and, after some nervous joking, moves are made. Linklater has no real interest in the act itself, however, and, after some initial groping, he quickly moves on. Jesse and Celine are on a clock, after all, and there are more important matters to attend to.

Chief among these matters is the couple's looming separation. Early in the film, when Jesse and Celine tackled the unpleasant topic of the dawn, they arrived at a decision: The night was the night, and there would be no expectations beyond it. As intelligent as this decision may have seemed, however, no one--not them, and not us in the audience--really believed it. There was too solid a connection for the pair to part ways quietly, and sure enough, in the moments before they separate they both panic, hastily making plans to rendezvous at the same location a mere six months later. Did they meet again? Before Sunrise refuses a coda, leaving instead a perfect, heartbreaking ending, one that rouses both optimists and cynics--the night was indeed the night, and it alone was worth the heartache.

And now, nine years later, the story continues. At first glance, Before Sunset may seem like a bad idea--why answer the question?--but as it turns out, the sequel is entirely necessary, for Linklater and company have not set out to make your standard continuation; just as startling and intelligent as the first installment, part two has grown along with its characters, and the result is pure joy. The setting this time is Celine's hometown of Paris, where Jesse is finishing the last stop of a book tour. Once again, the tyranny of the clock lords over them; whereas the first film was set over the stretch of a day, this go-around Jesse has just hours remaining before his flight home. Jesse and Celine have hardened somewhat into disappointed adults. Jesse is a husband and a father; Celine is in a serious relationship--both have often pondered, perhaps even obsessed at times, over what the other has been up to over the years. They're both happy, for the most part--or at least content--but what-ifs plague them, and though their brief reunion may not fully settle matters for them, the door, at least, may be closed (if not latched).

As in the previous outing, nearly all of Before Sunset is made up of walking and conversing. Jesse and Celine have much catching up to do, not to mention some grievances to air, and just as in the first film, their exchanges are shockingly natural. Jesse still puffs out his chest, and Celine still calls him on his bullshit--all that's changed, really, is a sinking around their eyes and a minor dash to their spirits. The best romances force you to care unreasonably about their characters, and watching Jesse and Celine reunited, I couldn't help but feel a bittersweet twinge; I was 21 when Before Sunrise was released--just as dreamy and dewy as I could be--and now, nearly a decade later, their return feels like the arrival of beloved, yet somehow forgotten, friends. I fell in love with them then and, as I found out, I'm still in love with them.

If standard love stories fail to ignite real passion in their viewers, it is surely because the ones entangled fail to resonate in reality. Jesse and Celine, however, seem so perfectly grounded in the truth that the thought of them not being together makes you ache. Both Before Sunrise and Before Sunset achieve a level of honesty that is so rare that it almost seems otherworldly--at least until you realize that Jesse and Celine's romance may be, in its heart, the most realistic, and therefore most vital, love story you will ever encounter.

brad@thestranger.com