Before Sunset 

Dir. Richard Linklater. 2004, 80 mins. 35mm. With Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy. For the heartsick devotees of Before Sunrise, the sudden announcement that, nine years later, Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy were reuniting for a sequel was, frankly, terrifying. Why risk ruining the memory of something so perfect—and an ending so perfectly ambiguous? As became quickly clear upon its release in the summer of 2004, we really needn’t have worried. Before Sunset, conceived as a “real-time” catchup with Jesse and Céline, this time in Paris, where Jesse has come to publicize his new novel based on a certain encounter in Vienna nearly a decade ago, is one of the greatest romantic films ever made, a brilliantly acted, consistently playful, at times wrenching portrait of lost time, missed chances, and the possibility of changing one’s destiny—if there is such a thing at all. “The film is formally constructed to haunt, touches never quite reaching their intended target for fear of realization that the other is nothing more than spectral memory, its final frames prematurely fading into obscurity, the voice of deceased chanteuse Nina Simone still wafting off the screen.” —Suzanne Scott, Reverse Shot 

Preceded by Reverse Shot Talkie: Richard Linklater 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.

See the whole Before trilogy for $33 on either November 25 or 26. Purchase combo ticket here (discount offer only valid for seeing all three films on the same day).  Before Sunrise screens at 1:30 and Before Midnight at 6:00.