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Before Sunset The Rewatchables
Before Sunset poster
Before Sunset

Who Won the Movie?

Julie Delpy; shared Hawke–Delpy win proposed

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:32Read transcript
  • Whether this film belongs more to Delpy or Hawke is debated through whose perspective frames the other.
  • Delpy receives an explicit choice because the ending depends on the waltz working.
  • The counterargument credits Hawke’s listening reaction equally and concludes that both should share the win.
Podcast choices
Speaker not identified
Julie Delpy
Speaker not identified
Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy
Before Sunset The Rewatchables
Before Sunset poster
Before Sunset

Producer review

Both films loved; relationship differences praised; characters seem older than modern thirtysomethings

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:39:21Read transcript
  • The invited producer had watched both films for the first time on a plane, a setting the others consider appropriate.
  • The first film is mesmerizing, especially its early-twenties dialogue and a compatible couple who do not agree on everything.
  • The optimistic ending is loved, though Jesse’s initial smugness makes Celine’s attraction puzzling; their differences gradually soften them.
  • Celine must be French; the Jennifer Connelly recast would not work for this viewer.
  • Fear that a delayed sequel would spoil the original gives way to delight at the reversed perspectives and gradual renewed connection.
  • Both films are called perfect, but these characters feel unusually weathered at 32 compared with contemporary thirty-year-olds who reach family milestones later.
  • The extra eighty minutes are suspenseful and completely captivating; the reviewer declines to watch the third film yet.
Before Sunrise The Rewatchables
Before Sunrise poster
Before Sunrise

Perfect Age to See This Movie

After freshman year of college; 24; 23

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:37:14Read transcript
  • The summer after freshman year of college is proposed, before having too much travel experience to criticize Jesse’s choices.
  • Age24 matches the characters; seeing it at14–15 supplied a useful romantic playbook but is not called the best age.
  • Age23 is the remaining choice, balancing idealism with developed conversational moves; the film still works for older viewers.
Before Sunrise The Rewatchables
Before Sunrise poster
Before Sunrise

Most Rewatchable Scene

Listening booth (two choices); first train conversation (one choice)

In the discussion (16)
Approx. transcript time · 00:38:57Read transcript
  • The opening argument between an older couple works as a thematic introduction to the series.
  • The translation reveals that the couple are trading accusations about alcohol and marriage.
  • Jesse's time-machine pitch persuading Celine to leave the train is praised as smart and funny.
  • The hosts report that Delpy helped shape a pitch she believed would actually get Celine off the train.
  • The long one-shot bus conversation about souls is praised both for Jesse's theory and the uninterrupted staging.
  • The listening booth is selected as a winner because the wordless scene lets the actors' glances carry the attraction.
  • Linklater reportedly withheld the song so Hawke and Delpy would hear it for the first time during the take.
  • The Ferris wheel and amusement-park material, including the kiss, are nominated.
  • The fortune teller and the question of love versus excelling at one thing are praised.
  • The street poet and his poem are nominated as a sweet, effective encounter.
  • The imaginary phone calls are praised as a charming device that should not work but does.
  • Jesse talking the bartender into giving them a bottle of wine is nominated despite practical questions.
  • Celine's idea that intimacy grows from knowing another person's habits is highlighted as idealistic wisdom.
  • The goodbye, park sequence, trains, and empty locations revisited at dawn form another leading ending choice.
  • The first train conversation is selected for its naturalistic progression from awkwardness to connection.
  • The cutaway that leaves sex unresolved, followed by the harpsichord window and imagined photograph, is a smaller final nominee.
Before Sunrise The Rewatchables
Before Sunrise poster
Before Sunrise

What’s Aged the Best?

Train settings; Jesse’s conversational bits; Hawke–Linklater collaboration; actor co-writing; Vienna; French-girl archetype; aging-with-the-characters sequels; Cemetery of the Nameless; June 1994 setting; lines about loss and connection

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:53:35Read transcript
  • Train travel and Jesse's rehearsed conversational theories are praised as central pleasures.
  • Jesse's childhood story is connected to the later Boyhood, making Hawke and Linklater's collaboration feel continuous.
  • The European train-pass experience is recommended as an enduring form of travel.
  • Casting actors who can write and letting them shape the characters is described as a sophisticated filmmaking method.
  • Vienna in summer and the film's French-girl archetype remain appealing.
  • Sequels that let characters age in real time are praised as a rare, still potent device.
  • The Cemetery of the Nameless is praised as an evocative place and idea.
  • The story's June 16–17, 1994 dates place the farewell on the day of the O. J. Simpson chase, World Cup opener, Knicks-Rockets Game 5, Rangers parade, and Arnold Palmer's final U.S. Open round.
  • The line about realizing how little an ex thinks about you is singled out as painfully universal.
  • The film's claim that magic lies in trying to understand another person is treated as its central wisdom.
Before Sunrise The Rewatchables
Before Sunrise poster
Before Sunrise

The Great Shot Gordo Award for Most Cinematic Shot

Céline in Jesse’s lap; Jesse against Vienna architecture; wet cobblestone descent; ending

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:59Read transcript
  • Celine with her head in Jesse's lap before the Archduke Albrecht statue is nominated.
  • Jesse sitting on the railing against the building is nominated for the composition.
  • The wet cobblestone descent is praised for its Michael Mann-like texture.
  • The ending is also nominated.
Before Sunrise The Rewatchables
Before Sunrise poster
Before Sunrise

Sean Fennessey Award for Stealth Homage That Gives Every Movie Nerd a Criterion Orgasm

The Third Man’s Prater Ferris wheel

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:00Read transcript
  • The Vienna Ferris wheel is identified as the same landmark used in The Third Man.
  • The listening booth is proposed as another film-history echo.
  • A later Mission: Impossible listening-booth scene is discussed as an echo forward from Before Sunrise.
Before Sunrise The Rewatchables
Before Sunrise poster
Before Sunrise

Jesse in Before Sunrise Award for the Character Who Should Have Smoked but Didn’t

Jesse; probably Céline too

The panel proposes a new category here.

Flex pick · Chris Ryan

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:37Read transcript
  • Chris explicitly selects the category as his flex after Bill invites him to restore a cut category. — Chris Ryan
  • Chris remembers Jesse as a smoker and argues that Hawke's real-life smoking makes the omission puzzling. — Chris Ryan
  • The 1995 European setting and the smoking poet make the absence of cigarettes especially conspicuous.
  • The lack of smoking now makes the movie feel unexpectedly modern.
  • Julie Delpy is also proposed as someone who would plausibly smoke.
Before Sunrise The Rewatchables
Before Sunrise poster
Before Sunrise

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

Closing song — tentative

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:37Read transcript
  • No actor is identified as a weak link, and two participants say they have none.
  • Bill considers whether the closing song could have made the film feel more specifically 1995. — Bill Simmons
  • The Jayhawks' “Blue” and Green Day's “Good Riddance” are rejected alternatives.
  • The Innocence Mission's “Bright as Yellow” is Bill's proposed replacement. — Bill Simmons
  • Bill concedes that the original song helps keep the movie timeless and that his answer is forced. — Bill Simmons
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