Before Sunset

Celine:
Do I look any different?

Celine:
I do?

Jesse:
I'd have to see you naked.

Jesse:
In the months leading up to my wedding, I was thinking about you all the time. I mean, even on my way there; I'm in the car, a buddy of mine is driving me downtown and I'm staring out the window, and I think I see you, not far from the church, right? Folding up an umbrella and walking into a deli on the corner of 13th and Broadway. And I thought I was going crazy, but now I think it probably was you.

Celine:
I lived on 11th and Broadway.

Jesse:
You see?

Journalist #1:
Do you consider the book to be autobiographical?

Jesse:
Uh, well, I mean... isn't everything autobiographical?

Celine:
Baby, you are gonna miss that plane.

Jesse:
I know.

Jesse:
In the months heading up to my wedding, I was thinking of you.

Celine:
Were you there in Vienna, in December?

Jesse:
I'm designed to feel slightly dissatisfied!

Celine:
Memories are wonderful things, if you don't have to deal with the past.

Jesse:
Okay, I realize there are a lot of serious problems in the world.

Celine:
Okay, thank you.

Jesse:
Okay. I mean, I don't even have one publisher in the whole Asian market.

Celine:
An imperialist country can use that kind of thinking to justify their economic greed, you know. I - human rights ...

Jesse:
Is there any particular imperialist country you have in mind, there, Frenchie?

Celine:
Mmm, no, not really...

Jesse:
Maybe what I'm saying is, is the world might be evolving the way a person evolves. Right? Like, I mean, me for example. Am I getting worse? Am I improving? I don't know. When I was younger, I was healthier, but I was, uh, whacked with insecurity, you know? Now I'm older and my problems are deeper, but I'm more equipped to handle them.

Jesse:
Life's hard. It's supposed to be. If we didn't suffer, we'd never learn anything.

Celine:
It's amazing what perverts we've become in the past nine years.

Jesse:
At least now we don't have to pretend that each new sexual experience is a life-altering event.

Celine:
I know. By now, you know, you've stuck it in so many places, it's like about to fall off.

Jesse:
Yeah, you know, and I can't realistically expect that you've become anything but a total ho, at this point.

Celine:
Yeah, thank you.

Jesse:
Do you have kids?

Celine:
Yes, two -

Celine:
Sh*t!

Jesse:
What?

Celine:
I left them in the car! With the windows rolled up! It was six months ago! Think they're okay?

Jesse:
I heard this story once about when the Germans were occupying Paris and they had to retreat back. They wired Notre Dame to blow, but they had to leave one guy in charge of hitting the switch. And the guy, the soldier, he couldn't do it. You know, he just sat there, knocked out by how beautiful the place was. And then when the allied troops came in, they found all the explosives just lying there and the switch unturned, and they found the same thing at Sacre Couer, Eiffel Tower. Couple other places I think...

Celine:
Is that true?

Jesse:
I don't know. I always liked the story, though.

Jesse:
What do you think were the chances of us ever meeting again?

Celine:
After that December, I'd say almost zero. But we're not real anyway, right? We're just, uh, characters in that old lady's dream. She's on her deathbed, fantasizing about her youth. So of course we had to meet again.

Jesse:
Oh, God, why weren't you there, in Vienna?

Celine:
I told you why.

Jesse:
Well, I know why, I just - I wish you would have been. Our lives might have been so much different.

Celine:
You think so?

Jesse:
I actually do.

Celine:
Maybe not. Maybe, we would have hated each other eventually.

Jesse:
Oh what, like we hate each other now?

Celine:
You know, maybe we're - we're only good at brief encounters, walking around in European cities in warm climate.

Jesse:
Oh, God, why didn't we exchange phone numbers and stuff? Why didn't we do that?

Celine:
Because we were young and stupid.

Jesse:
Do you think we still are?

Celine:
I guess when you're young, you just believe they'll be many people with whom you'll connect with. Later in life, you realize it only happens a few times.

Jesse:
And you can screw it up, you know, misconnect.

Celine:
The past is the past. It was meant to be that way.

Jesse:
What, you really believe that? That everything's fated?

Celine:
Well, you know, the world might be less free than we think.

Jesse:
Yeah?

Celine:
Yeah, when given these exact circumstances, that's what will happen every time: two part hydrogen, one part oxygen, you get water every time.

Jesse:
No, no, I - I - I mean what if your grandmother had lived a week longer, or, you know, or passed away a week earlier, days even. You know things might have been different. I believe that.

Celine:
You can't think like that, it's ...

Jesse:
No, I mean, I know you shouldn't on most things, but - It's just, on this one it seemed like something was off, you know?

Celine:
So what's it like to be married? You haven't talked much about that.

Jesse:
I haven't? How weird.

Jesse:
I feel like if someone where to touch me, I'd dissolve into molecules.

Celine:
I love my kitty!

Jesse:
What's his name?

Celine:
Che.

Jesse:
Che?

Celine:
Mmm hmm.

Jesse:
Uh huh...

Celine:
What?

Jesse:
Commie.

Celine:
Do you think you would have finished your book if you were f***ing someone every five minutes?

Jesse:
I might have welcomed the challenge.

Celine:
They enjoy the goal but not the process. But the reality of it is that the true work of improving things is in the little achievements of the day.

Celine:
I see it in the people that do the real work, and what's sad in a way is that the people that are the most giving, hardworking, and capable of making this world better, usually don't have the ego and ambition to be a leader.

Celine:
The concept is absurd. The idea that we can only be complete with another person is evil! Right?

Journalist:
Do you consider the book to be autobiographical?

Jesse:
Uh, well, I mean... isn't everything autobiographical? I mean, we all see the world through our own little keyhole. I mean, I always think of Thomas Wolfe. You know, have you ever seen that little one-page 'Note to Reader' in the front of Look Homeward, Angel?...Anyway, he says that we are the sum of all the moments of our lives and that, uh, anybody who sits down to write is gonna use the clay of their own life - that you can't avoid that. So when I look at my own life, you know, I have to admit, right, that I've-I've never been around a bunch of guns or violence, you know, not really. No political intrigue or a helicopter crash, right? But my life, from my own point of view, has been full of drama, right? And uh, so I thought, if I could write a book that, that could capture what it's like to, to really meet somebody, I mean, one of the most exciting things that's ever happened to me is to meet somebody, to make that connection. And if I could make that valuable, you know, to capture that, that would be the attempt, or... Did I answer your question?

Celine:
I was fine, until I read your f***ing book! It stirred sh*t up, you know? It reminded me how genuinely romantic I was, how I had so much hope in things, and now it's like, I don't believe in anything that relates to love. I don't feel things for people anymore. In a way, I put all my romanticism into that one night, and I was never able to feel all this again. Like, somehow this night took things away from me and I expressed them to you, and you took them with you! It made me feel cold, like if love wasn't for me!

Jesse:
I... I don't believe that. I don't believe that.

Celine:
You know what? Reality and love are almost contradictory for me. It's funny. Every single of my ex’s, they're now married! Men go out with me, we break up, and then they get married! And later they call me to thank me for teaching them what love is, and, and that I taught them to care and respect women!

Jesse:
I think I'm one of those guys.

Celine:
You know, I want to kill them! Why didn't they ask me to marry them? I would have said "No," but at least they could have asked! But it's my fault, I know it's my fault, because I never felt it was the right man. Never! But what does it mean the right man? The love of your life? The concept is absurd. The idea that we can only be complete with another person is EVIL! Right?!

Jesse:
Can I talk?

Celine:
You know, I guess I've been heart-broken too many times. And then I recovered. So now, you know, from the start I make no effort because I know it’s not going to work out, I know it’s not going to work out.

Jesse:
[describing how she looks different] Skinnier, I think. A little thinner.

Celine:
Did you think I was fat before?

Jesse:
[laughing] No!

Celine:
Yeah, you thought I was a fatty. No, you thought I was a fatty! Yeah, you, you wrote a book about a fat French girl!

Jesse:
No, listen...

Celine:
[laughing] Oh, no...

Jesse:
Seriously, all right, you look beautiful.

Jesse:
You want to know why I wrote that stupid book?

Celine:
Why?

Jesse:
So that you might come to a reading in Paris and I could walk up to you and ask, "Where the f*** were you?"

Celine:
[Laughing] No - you thought I'd be here today?

Jesse:
I'm serious. I think I wrote it, in a way, to try to find you.

Celine:
Okay, that's– I know that's not true, but that's sweet of you to say.

Jesse:
I think it is true. What do you think were the chances of us ever meeting again?

Celine:
After that December, I'd say almost zero. But we're not real anyway, right? We're just, uh, characters in that old lady's dream. She's on her deathbed, fantasizing about her youth. So of course we had to meet again.

Celine:
So, I want to try something.

Jesse:
What?

Celine:
[hugs him] I want to see if you stay together or if you dissolve into molecules.

Jesse:
How'm I doing?

Celine:
Still here.

Jesse:
Good, I like being here.

Jesse:
You know, I think that book that I wrote, in a way, was like building something.

Jesse:
So that I wouldn't forget the... details of the time that we spent together. You know, like just a reminder that... that once we really did meet! You know, that this was real! That this happened!

Celine:
I'm happy you're saying that, because... I mean, I always feel like a freak, because I'm never able to move on like... this! You know.

Celine:
People just have an affair, or even entire relationships... they break up and they forget! They move on like they would have changed brand of cereals!

Celine:
I feel I was never able to forget anyone I've been with. Because each person have... their own, specific qualities. You can never replace anyone. What is lost is lost.

Celine:
Each relationship, when it ends, really damages me. I never fully recover. That's why I'm very careful with getting involved, because... It hurts too much!

Celine:
Even getting laid! I actually don't do that...

Celine:
I will miss on the other person the most mundane things.

Celine:
Like I'm obsessed with little things.

Celine:
Maybe I'm crazy, but... when I was a little girl, my mom told me that I was always late to school. One day she followed me to see why. I was looking at chestnuts falling from the trees, rolling on the sidewalk, or... ants crossing the road, the way a leaf casts a shadow on a tree trunk... Little things.

Celine:
I think it's the same with people.

Celine:
I see in them little details, so specific to each of them, that move me, and that I miss, and... will always miss. You can never replace anyone, because everyone is made of such beautiful specific details.

Celine:
Like I remember the way, your beard has a bit of red in it. And how the sun was making it glow, that... that morning, right before you left. I remember that, and... I missed it!

Celine:
I'm really crazy, right?

Celine:
I was thinking... for me it's better I don't romanticize things as much anymore. I was suffering so much all the time. I still have lots of dreams, but they're not in regard to my love life. It doesn't make me sad, it's just the way it is.

Jesse:
Is that why you're in a relationship with, somebody who's... never around?

Celine:
Yes, obviously, I can't deal with the day to day life of a relationship.

Celine:
Yeah, we have, you know, this exciting time together and then he leaves and I miss him... but at least I'm not dying inside!

Celine:
When someone is always around me, I'm like suffocating!

Jesse:
No, wait, you just said that you need to love and be loved...

Celine:
Yeah, but when I do, it quickly makes me nauseous! It's a disaster!

Celine:
I mean, I'm really happy only when I'm on my own. Even being alone... it's better than... sitting next to a lover and feeling lonely.

Celine:
It's not so easy for me to be a romantic. You start off that way, and, after you've been screwed over a few times, you... you forget about all your delusional ideas, and you just take what comes into your life.

Celine:
That's not even true! I haven't been... screwed over, I've just had too many... blah relationships. They weren't mean, they cared for me, but... they were no real... connection, or excitement! At least, not from my side.

Jesse:
God, I'm sorry, is it... is it really that bad? It's not, right?

Jesse:
Maybe it's just a sense of entitlement. You know, like whenever you feel like you deserve that new pair of shoes. It's OK to want things as long as you don't get pissed off if you don't get 'em. Right?

Jesse:
You realize that most of the people that you meet are trying to get somewhere better, they're trying to make a little bit more cash, trying to get a little more respect, have more people admire them. It's just exhausting.

Jesse:
I don't have any permanent place here. You know, in eternity, or whatever. And the more I think that, I can't go through life saying that this is no big deal. I mean, this is it! This is actually happening. What do you think is interesting, what do you think is funny, what do you think is important? You know, every day is our last.

Jesse:
I have this idea of my best self, and I wanted to pursue that even if it might have been overriding my honest self.

Jesse:
In the moment I remember thinking that it didn't much matter the "Who" of it all. Nobody is gonna be everything to you, and that ultimately it's just a simple action of committing yourself, meeting your responsibilities that matters.

Jesse:
What is love, if it's not respect, trust, admiration? And I felt all those things. So cut to the present tense: I feel like I'm running a small nursery with somebody I used to date.

Jesse:
We're just living in a pretense of a marriage responsibility, and all these ideas of how people are supposed to live.

Jesse:
There's gotta be something more to love than commitment.

Celine:
[Celine's Song] Let me sing you a waltz / Out of nowhere, out of my thoughts / Let me sing you a waltz / About this one night stand / You were, for me, that night / Everything I always dreamt of in life / But now you're gone / You are far gone / All the way to your island of rain / It was for you just a one night thing / But you were much more to me, just so you know / I don't care what they say / I know what you meant for me that day / I just want another try, I just want another night / Even if it doesn't seem quite right / You meant for me much more than anyone I've met before / One single night with you, little Jesse, is worth a thousand with anybody / I have no bitterness, my sweet / I'll never forget this one night thing / Even tomorrow in other arms, my heart will stay yours until I die / Let me sing you a waltz / Out of nowhere, out of my blues / Let me sing you a waltz / About this lovely one night stand

Celine:
You can never replace anyone because everyone is made up of such beautiful specific details.

Celine:
I was having this awful nightmare that I was 32. And then I woke up and I was 23. So relieved. And then I woke up for real, and I was 32.

Celine:
There are so many things I want to do, but I end up doing not much.