OK, I thought I'd start something new to a) keep the posts coming and b) talk about France! I thought I'd do a series of posts about my favorite movies that take place in France. France is the ideal situation for a drama or a romance, so it's not surprising that some of my favorite movies take place there.
Many of you will recognize Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy from the poignant Before Sunset. Like a lot of movies that I end up loving, I saw the sequel before I saw the prequel and had to go back and rent the prequel to make sure I didn't miss anything! In Before Sunrise, a Hawke, an American man, and Delpy, a French woman, meet on a train to Vienna and discover a connection. They spend one night together and agree to meet again 6 months later if they feel the same. They part without exchanging information (this was 1994, kids, WAY before e-mail and cellies were the norm). The sequel picks up 10 years later. He's a best-selling author doing a book tour and Paris is his last stop. It is painfully clear in the first 15 minutes of the movie that the two didn't end up meeting as he discusses his book, a "fictional" account of their meeting. She appears at the bookstore, startling him and they decide to walk and talk. We find out that he actually went back to the train station to meet her but unfortunately, her grandmother's death prevented her from meeting him. To make matters worse, we later learn that while he lived in NY, she also spent some time living in the city. The times when he thought he saw her, were not illusions. He actually saw her. To drive in the knife a little deeper, they talk about their current relationships. He is married with a child. She is dating but obviously not happy. They are both just existing. They've accepted that life is just what it is--not full of the hope and possibility that they once felt when they were young and could meet strangers on a train and fall in love. Life is full of monotony and responsibilities. They have both grown up. As you watch the discourse between them (it's less like a movie and more like eavesdropping) you feel a lot of different emotions. You go through the happiness and sadness that they both do. You feel something with this film.
I recently lent this to a friend and she just felt depressed after she watched it. It's definitely a little heavy, but the movie has a lot of humanistic value. I like the idea of meeting your soulmate in a totally random way: on a train in a foreign country. I totally believe in soulmates and it's kinda of cool to think that meeting him doesn't have to be this huge production. I don't have to get gussied up to go to a club and try to hypnotize him with my dancing. I could be sitting alongside a quai writing in my journal. Or I could be on a plane. Or in a cafe.
The movie ends on a hopeful yet open note. The director kind of leaves it up to your imagination to decide what's going to happen. In my version, he misses his plane back to the states. It's hard to imagine him giving up his wife and child but it's also hard to imagine him giving up his true love. If you get a chance, rent this movie. I'd love to hear what other people think about it.
5 comments:
Soulmate, schmolmate!
This concept it partly responsible for the extremely high divorce rate.
I mean, what if you somehow miss your train to Austria and thereby miss out on your one and only chance to meet your one and only soulmate? Do you tragically spend the rest of your life miserable and alone? Do you pass the time in a loveless empty marriage?
Hollywood romance films are downright dangerous!
Take it from a happily old married lady. The world is full of possible soulmates for each of us. :)~
....I did enjoy the movie though.
Thanks for the comment! I wax and wane on the idea of a soulmate, but I'm an idealist and a romantic schmuck. I do think there's a perfect someone, and them lots of other people you could tolerate well enough lol.
I saw Before Sunset but have not yet seen its prequel. I enjoyed the movie and appreciated the complexity of the characters' feelings, as well as the open-endedness to it.
I don't necessarily see the movie as encouraging one to disregard the sanctity of marriage. I think it effectively conveys the struggle of a love not fully realized. There is nothing simple about that and the "right" thing to do becomes hazy.
At least, unlike many Hollywood movies, this movie doesn't attempt to over-simplify love. So many movies make love seem so simple and quite a phenomenon...which only confuses people's notions of love, by falsely portraying love as this simple and convenient thing. That over-simplification has a lot to do with the disappointment many people feel regarding love and the idea of soulmates!
In my opinion, Before Sunset added that dimension of complexity (his character being married, with a child) for a reason...because it is often a very real part of these situations.
Great post!
Thanks B for the post. It was very insightful.
I love both of the films, and I tend to think he does miss his plane in the end. They are both brilliant films, quite romantic but not corny at all.
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