Before Sunset

Jesse calls Celine, “An angry, manic depressive activist,” and Celine refers to Jesse as, “Just another married man.” They are really different people now. Their lives have taken turns that they never anticipated. Jesse is so stuck in the past he makes his living off of a book he writes of their affair together, and Celine tries to find love in other men and fails in all her relationships. They are far from the idealistic teenagers/young adults they used to be. Out in the real world, what they thought would be the “perfect life” of a career, spouse, and kids is unattainable in reality. After their brief encounter they never felt love the same way again, even Jesse says he does not love his wife, just his son. The sequel shows that love does fade over time. The two are very distant and awkward with each other, in a way they weren’t the last time they were together. Celine even debates whether to put her hand on Jesse’s shoulder to comfort him. The whole time they are together all they do is hug, and not even a lover’s embrace from The Notebook, but a tentative hug that is restrained. Their story demonstrates through character development that there is not always a happy ending. They both seem to have miserable lives, but they are just dealing with it, not even with a therapist but by themselves. This movie is not what most people expected. Like he said, if you thought they would meet up again that means you are a romantic, but if you do not then you are a cynic. Since they never do meet up until by chance ten years later, it means that the people who are romantics are naive and foolish, just like Jesse is portrayed in the movie. Celine who is disillusioned by love is also sad, but somehow her live seems better than Jesse, who can at least take solace in her cat.