The setup is almost deceptively simple: Jesse (Ethan Hawke), an American traveling through Europe, meets Céline (Julie Delpy), a French student, on a train to Vienna. They strike up a conversation, and on a whim, Jesse convinces her to spend the night wandering the city with him before his flight home the next morning. That’s it — no explosions, no major twists — just two people walking, talking, and falling in love.
What makes Before Sunrise such a perfect rewatch, especially on a slow Sunday, is how it captures the immediacy and tenderness of connection. Linklater’s dialogue feels so natural that it doesn’t seem written — it feels overheard, like you’re eavesdropping on something too intimate to interrupt. Jesse and Céline talk about everything: love, death, religion, dreams, regrets. They flirt, they challenge each other, they stumble into silences that feel just as meaningful as the words.
On a rewatch, you notice the small details even more: the way Jesse awkwardly touches Céline’s hair in the listening booth, the way she looks at him when he’s not paying attention, the way Vienna itself becomes a third character — ancient, romantic, timeless.
Before Sunrise is a film about possibilities: the lives we could live, the people we could become, the love we might find if we’re brave enough to step off a train and take a chance. It’s bittersweet without being cynical, romantic without being naive.
In a world obsessed with fast-paced everything, Before Sunrise asks us to slow down, to listen, to really see someone. It’s a reminder that sometimes the most extraordinary moments are the simplest ones — a conversation, a glance, a night that changes everything.
This Sunday, rewatch Before Sunrise. Let yourself believe, if only for a little while, in the power of a single evening to shift the course of a life.
