film

Richard Linklater's indie classic follows Ethan Hawke's American traveller Jesse and Julie Delpy's French student Céline, who meet by chance on a train to Vienna. On impulse, Jesse convinces Céline to get off the train and spend the night exploring the city with him before his flight home to the US in the morning. The pair wander through Vienna and talk about love, life, dreams and relationships - that's about it plot-wise, but the dialogue makes Before Sunrise an intimate exploration of youthful idealism and the sometimes fleeting nature of romance.

This simple classic ends in ambiguous fashion - Jesse and Céline agree to meet again in six months without exchanging contact information - putting the bittersweet finishing touch on a poetic, melancholic meditation on love, timing and attraction.