A very good movie

This movie is an exception. Indeed, there is a rule saying that a sequel should never be better than its predecessor but, fortunately, there are a few exceptions and this movie is one of them. Indeed, if I recall it correctly, ‘Before Sunrise’ was the first movie directed by Richard Linklater which I had the pleasure to watch and it was definitely a solid romantic feature. However, you could feel that Linklater was still inexperienced with the material (It was only his 4th directing effort and his first romantic outing). It was the same thing concerning Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Their performances were pretty good and I believed in their characters but I thought that the whole thing was a little too self-conscious and pretentious. So, 10 years later, they came back with the same characters and they got back where they left it and the end-result was just quite impressive. Indeed, the director and both actors had grown older just like the characters and wrote together this impressive piece of work. Basically, just like the previous installment, there is not much action during the whole thing, just 2 characters talking to each other. It sounds dull but it was just the opposite, it was really spellbinding to watch. And this time, there were so many layers, the joy to see each other again, the bitterness about the missed opportunities, the frustration concerning their life, the love still lingering there somewhere and many more. In the first movie, it all ended in a rather melodramatic way but it fitted perfectly those characters at that moment in their life. This time, the ending was more ambiguous and, once again, an improvement. To conclude, it is probably the best romantic feature ever made and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

8/10