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Before Sunrise poster

Before Sunrise

year 1995decade 90sdirector Richard Linklatergenre Romancegenre Drama

101 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Ethan Hawke Jesse
Julie Delpy Céline
Andrea Eckert Wife on Train
Hanno Pöschl Husband on Train
Karl Bruckschwaiger Guy on Bridge
Tex Rubinowitz Guy on Bridge
Erni Mangold Palm Reader
Dominik Castell Street Poet
Harald Waiglein Guitarist in Club
Bilge Jeschim Belly Dancer

Before Sunrise | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Sean Fennessey
Explore episodeClose episode

Producer credits not yet identified.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:35:27Read transcript
  • The podcast explicitly states that Roger Ebert gave Before Sunrise three stars.
  • Ebert calls the story a nicer, sweeter, gentler version of a scenario that has happened millions of times.
  • Ebert frames the film as a Generation X love affair whose leads stand outside their generation's insistence on boredom.
  • Ebert describes Julie Delpy as beautiful, warm, and matter-of-fact.
  • Ebert says Linklater is interested in ordinary time, people crossing paths, conversation, and uncertain philosophies.
  • Ebert’s age of 53 prompts discussion of whether an older critic would grasp this Gen X romance; it is said to work for older viewers now.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

What’s Aged the Worst?

Screenwriting-credit and pay disputes

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:02Read transcript
  • Julie Delpy's later dispute over screenwriting credit is the only serious negative raised.
  • A pay-gap discussion is acknowledged but not treated as a flaw in the movie itself.
  • The phone-free wandering and asking strangers for help would unfold very differently now.
  • The lack of navigation apps makes the movie feel more fantastical today than in 1995.
  • A younger viewer finding the movie too talkative is offered as a contemporary reception example, not a settled defect.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Jesse anticipating live streaming; Gen X indie crossover universe; more romantic than Casablanca, Gone with the Wind or Titanic

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:09:41Read transcript
  • Jesse's proposed 24/7 public-access feed is compared to YouTube, Instagram Reels, and TikTok.
  • A host argues that ordinary indie films should have character crossovers rather than leaving shared universes to comic-book movies.
  • Grover from Kicking and Screaming is imagined passing through Vienna after Prague.
  • Characters from Singles and Barcelona are offered as more Gen X crossover possibilities.
  • A White Shadow/St. Elsewhere crossover is recalled as a television example.
  • Before Sunrise is called more romantic than Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, and Titanic because it needs no life-and-death stakes.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Street poet (two choices); palm reader (one choice)

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:36Read transcript
  • The two men inviting Jesse and Celine to their play are nominated.
  • The palm reader, street poet, and benevolent bartender complete the candidate list.
  • Two responses choose the poet, praising the poem and its effect on the couple.
  • Another chooses the palm reader and notes the actress's long Austrian career.

Recasting Couch

Boston

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:14:08Read transcript
  • The category is explicitly reframed as recasting the city.
  • A Boston bartender would reject Jesse's request for free wine and the O. J. chase would be on television.
  • The pair would be stranded by Amtrak and walk from Back Bay through Beacon Hill.
  • The imagined Boston version visits the North End, Newbury Comics, and the Middle East.
  • The date ends with an argument and Jesse being punched by a former college football player.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Lead characters’ books; real encounter; Cemetery of the Nameless; San Antonio draft; final train shot; Kath Bloom; Ulysses parallels

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:18:23Read transcript
  • Celine's book is attributed to an author transcribed as George Bastille or Gertr Batea, while Jesse reads Klaus Kinski's memoir All I Need Is Love.
  • Linklater reportedly based the movie on a 1989 night walking around Philadelphia with a woman whose name is transcribed as Amy Lairthopped.
  • The woman died in a motorcycle accident before the movie’s release, and Linklater did not learn of her death until 2010.
  • The cemetery is identified as Vienna's Cemetery of the Nameless.
  • An early version was set in San Antonio and centered on a film-obsessed man; River Walk is interjected as a joke.
  • The final train shot had to be synchronized precisely and reportedly succeeded on the planned take.
  • Kath Bloom's appearance helped produce renewed attention and later album releases.
  • Before Sunrise and Ulysses both unfold on June 16 during a journey through one city.
  • Jesse's real name James, graveyard visit, European wandering, and the Kath/Molly Bloom echo are presented as further Ulysses parallels.

Apex Mountain

Eurail trains; Austrian palm readers; littering; Kath Bloom; Cemetery of the Nameless; listening booths disputed

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:54Read transcript
  • Hawke's apex is debated as Reality Bites followed by a re-apex at Training Day.
  • Boyhood and the Purge/Sinister period are proposed as a third Hawke wave strengthened by his public storytelling.
  • Julie Delpy's apex is placed at Before Sunset.
  • Eurail trains, Austrian palm readers, and the film's conspicuous littering are easy answers.
  • Vienna is compared with The Third Man and a Billy Joel song as a cultural apex.
  • The first date is compared with Neil and Eadie in Heat and Colin Farrell and Gongley in Miami Vice.
  • The film is called a powerful date movie that can expose a weak relationship.
  • Gen X is placed around 1994–95, with Reality Bites and Kicking and Screaming as reference points.
  • The listening booth is compared to Philip Seymour Hoffman hearing jazz in The Talented Mr. Ripley.
  • Kath Bloom and the Cemetery of the Nameless receive direct apex answers.

Cruise or Hanks?

Cruise (two choices); Hanks (one choice)

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:26:26Read transcript
  • Cruise is favored for his motor-mouth energy and is imagined making the Vienna night hilariously intense.
  • Cocktail and Jerry McGuire are cited as evidence that Cruise could handle extended romantic conversation.
  • Hanks is proposed as a plausible young alternative but judged less neurotic than Jesse.
  • The final tally is two votes for Cruise and one for Hanks.

Scorsese or Spielberg?

Scorsese

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:29:22Read transcript
  • Scorsese is the first answer based on After Hours and its single-night structure.
  • Spielberg is considered for the movie's sentimentality and spiritualism.
  • The hosts would rather see Scorsese's version because Spielberg's version feels easier to predict.
  • They acknowledge that substituting either director is difficult because this is quintessential Linklater.

Did This Movie Need a Random Sports Scene?

Knicks–Rockets and O. J. chase; hacky sack; Austrian soccer

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:31:01Read transcript
  • Racing to a television for Knicks-Rockets is the first proposed sports scene.
  • Jesse joining a hacky-sack game is the leading period-specific option.
  • A scene where Jesse dismisses Austrian soccer as unlikely to catch on in America is another option.

Blind Call to Russillo

No answer

The panel proposes a new category here.

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:31:49Read transcript
  • A proposed recurring segment calls Russillo to ask whether he has seen the movie; the attempt reaches voicemail.

Picking Nits

Leather jacket in June; body odor; missing bartender address; poor pinball; incorrect Playmate name

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:32:22Read transcript
  • Jesse wearing a leather jacket in Vienna in mid-June seems too warm.
  • Neither lead showers despite train and hostel travel, coffee, and a night of walking.
  • The hosts debate whether people in the 1990s were simply more tolerant of body odor.
  • Jesse never receives the bartender's address for repayment.
  • Both characters are conspicuously bad at pinball during an intimate conversation.
  • The film names the wrong July 1978 Playboy Playmate; the podcast identifies Karen Morton as the actual Playmate.
  • Karen Morton's credits in History of the World, Part I and Tommy Tutone's “867-5309/Jenny” video are reported as supporting research.

Is This Movie Better With…?

Longlegs as palm reader; Wilford Brimley; Tony Romo; Daniel Plainview as poet; Tom Brady

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:34:54Read transcript
  • The category introduces a long list of recurring commentary personas and alternate performers.
  • Nell and Harley-Maze are included in the rapid-fire roster, but their identities are not safely resolved from the undiarized transcript.
  • Longlegs is requested as the fortune teller.
  • Wilford Brimley narrates Jesse's failed trip to Spain in the style of The Firm.
  • The Ferris-wheel seduction is performed as a football-broadcast call.
  • Daniel Plainview recites the street poem and turns it into a milkshake riff.
  • Tom Brady narrates Jesse's poise and the strength of his romantic offensive line.

Just One Oscar

Richard Linklater — direction or shared screenplay

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:37:43Read transcript
  • Linklater is the initial answer; directing versus a shared screenplay award is left open.
  • The screenplay would recognize the shared authorship discussed by the hosts.
  • The next two trilogy films are noted as later screenplay nominees.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Sex; romantic grand gestures; Jesse’s writing; literary interpretation

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:03Read transcript
  • Whether the couple had sex is raised, with the later film said to supply an answer.
  • The hosts wonder how many first dates copied Jesse's grand romantic gestures.
  • Bill says he made similarly grand gestures when he was younger. — Bill Simmons
  • Jesse becoming a novelist makes it puzzling that he never shows Celine any writing during the night.
  • Jesse's distrust of the poet is connected to his difficulty surrendering his own vulnerability.
  • The discussion turns into a question about a participant’s attraction to literary, metaphor-seeking characters despite his resistance to being one.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Connection for 24 hours over no connection; human connection as religion

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:41:03Read transcript
  • A brief but real connection is valued over a life without connection.
  • Human connection is framed as the real religion of the world.

Who Won the Movie?

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:41:53Read transcript
  • Richard Linklater is the first proposed winner, while Ethan Hawke is the initial alternative.
  • The case for Linklater is that Hawke already had Reality Bites while this film creates the trilogy central to Linklater's identity.
  • The Hawke-Linklater collaboration is compared with De Niro-Scorsese and Paul Newman-George Roy Hill partnerships.
  • The trilogy's crowd-pleasing, formally inventive scope supports the final Linklater choice.
Podcast choices
Speaker not identified
Richard Linklater

More from the conversation

The hosts call Before Sunrise a perfectly aged Gen X classic and argue that it achieved everything it attempted.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:36Read transcript
Singles, Kicking and Screaming, and Reality Bites are grouped with Before Sunrise as 1990s emotional-philosophical hangout films.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:00Read transcript
The pre-internet setting is treated as a time capsule when chance meetings and lost phone numbers made connection feel fragile.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:07Read transcript
The leads' youth, lack of obligations, and ability to wander are presented as essential to the movie's romantic possibility.
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:44Read transcript
Ethan Hawke's Reality Bites and Before Sunrise roles are described as central Gen X personas.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:59Read transcript
The episode deliberately treats Before Sunrise on its own while acknowledging the sequels.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:48Read transcript
The ending functions as a viewer test: expecting the reunion marks a romantic, while expecting failure marks a cynic.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:59Read transcript
The movie is praised for depicting awkward transitions after each romantic milestone rather than racing toward one final kiss or sex scene.
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:41Read transcript
The ambiguous ending is compared with Kicking and Screaming and a newer film transcribed as “a Nora” (likely Anora, unresolved here).
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:44Read transcript
Jesse and Celine's theories are compared with the conversational philosophy in Slacker, Waking Life, and Dazed and Confused.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:39Read transcript
The film's central theme is described as connection: a life of work without giving oneself to another person remains empty.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:53Read transcript
Slacker, Singles, Reality Bites, Kicking and Screaming, Clerks, Before Sunrise, Mallrats, and Swingers form an unranked core of possible ultimate Gen X movies.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:48Read transcript
Linklater's direction is praised as nearly invisible, with long takes and repeated emotional or intellectual crescendos rather than conventional montage.
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:23Read transcript
Before Sunrise, Reality Bites, and Alive are treated as Hawke's young-star foundation before Gattaca and Training Day.
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:11Read transcript
The film reportedly used extensive rehearsal and a screenplay that continued evolving with Hawke and Delpy's participation.
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:01Read transcript
Linklater and Kim Krizan wrote the screenplay; Kim Krizan is also identified as the teacher in Dazed and Confused.
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:39Read transcript
The episode lists Before Sunrise among a remarkable 1995 Sundance group including The Usual Suspects, Kids, Safe, Party Girl, Little Odessa, Muriel's Wedding, and Crumb.
Approx. transcript time · 00:34:06Read transcript
The podcast reports a $2.5 million budget and $22.5 million gross, while questioning the claim that it was the lowest-grossing movie to receive a sequel.
Approx. transcript time · 00:35:09Read transcript
Ideal viewing-age choices are after freshman year of college, 24 and 23; seeing it at 14–15 supplied a romantic playbook but was explicitly not the ideal age.
Approx. transcript time · 00:37:14Read transcript
The listening-booth discussion includes unsupported speculation about the two actors' off-screen relationship; it is not retained as fact.
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:32Read transcript
Michael Mann and Heat discussion after the flex category is tangential enthusiasm and not a Before Sunrise category result.
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:07Read transcript
The closing discussion argues that Hawke and Linklater's repeated work has an alchemical quality and that the Before trilogy may be Linklater's signature achievement.
Approx. transcript time · 01:41:53Read transcript