Before Sunrise (1995)
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Two travelers meet on a train and decide to spend a night wandering through Vienna together.
The story
On June 16, 1994, Jesse and Céline meet on a train traveling toward Vienna. Jesse is heading to the city with a Eurail pass to catch a flight back to the United States, while Céline is returning to university in Paris. When they reach Vienna, Jesse convinces Céline to disembark with him to spend the night together. Lacking the money to rent a room, the two decide to roam the city's landmarks and streets until Jesse's flight the next morning. As they wander, they begin to share deep conversations about their lives, relationships, and their surroundings, forming a growing romantic connection as the night unfolds.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
On June 16, 1994, Jesse and Céline meet on a train and decide to spend the night in Vienna together. They wander the city, visiting landmarks and sharing a kiss at the top of the Wiener Riesenrad. Their conversations evolve from casual observations to intimate discussions about love, religion, and their past relationships. They share a moment with a street poet and later engage in a staged phone conversation in a café to maintain the illusion of their separate lives. In a park, they share a bottle of wine and discuss their feelings, eventually deciding to share a passionate moment. The film concludes the next morning at the train station; as Céline's train is about to depart, they choose not to exchange contact information but agree to meet again in the same place in six months.
- First release year
- 1995
- Runtime (minutes)
- 101
- Production countries
- United States; Austria
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Richard Linklater
- Writers
- Richard Linklater · writer; Kim Krizan · writer
- Cast and characters
- Ethan Hawke · Jesse; Julie Delpy · Céline
- Genres
- romantic drama
- Themes
- self-fulfillment; self-discovery; life; mortality
- Tone and mood
- romantic; intimate
- Premise and plot tags
- road movie; two-hander; travel
- Franchise connections
- Before trilogy
- Reception
- The film received critical acclaim for its screenplay, direction, and acting, and was praised as an intelligent, romantic look at modern love.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 100% · scale: percentage · review count: 51; Metacritic · score: 79 · scale: 100 · review count: 19
- Awards and nominations
- Silver Bear for Best Director · Best Director · 1995 · win; Best Kiss · MTV Movie Awards · 1995 · nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was inspired by a woman named Amy Lehrhaupt.; The screenplay was written in just 11 days.; The film was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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