Before Sunset Page #2

Synopsis: Early thirty-something American Jesse Wallace is in a Paris bookstore, the last stop on a tour to promote his best selling book, This Time. Although he is vague to reporters about the source material for the book, it is about his chance encounter nine years earlier on June 15-16, 1994 with a Parisienne named Celine, and the memorable and romantic day and evening they spent together in Vienna. At the end of their encounter at the Vienna train station, which is also how the book ends, they, not providing contact information to the other, vowed to meet each other again in exactly six months at that very spot. As the media scrum at the bookstore nears its conclusion, Jesse spots Celine in the crowd, she who only found out about the book when she earlier saw his photograph promoting this public appearance. Much like their previous encounter, Jesse and Celine, who is now an environmental activist, decide to spend time together until he is supposed to catch his flight back to New York, this t
Genre: Drama, Romance
Director(s): Richard Linklater
Production: Warner Independent Pictures
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 30 nominations.
 
IMDB:
8.1
Metacritic:
90
Rotten Tomatoes:
95%
R
Year:
2004
80 min
$5,600,000
Website
5,169 Views


that I like.

I thought I was gonna totally lose it

in there when I first saw you.

How did you know

I was gonna be here?

It's my favorite bookstore in Paris.

You can sit down for hours and read.

I love it. There's fleas,

but, you know...

I know. I think a cat slept

on my head last night.

I saw your picture on the calendar

about a month ago...

...and that you were going

to be here.

It's funny, because I read an article

on your book...

...and it sounded vaguely familiar.

- Vaguely? Yeah.

But I didn't put it all together

until I saw your photo. So...

Did you have a chance to read it?

Yes, I...

I was really, really surprised,

as you can imagine.

I mean, I had to read it twice, actually.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

No, I liked it. It's very romantic.

I usually don't like that,

but it's really well-written.

- It's well-written. Congratulations.

- All right. Thank you.

- Wait.

- What?

Before we go anywhere,

I have to ask you...

Sure. What?

Did you show up in Vienna

that December?

- Did you?

- No, I couldn't. But did you?

- I need to know. It's important to me.

- Why, if you didn't?

Well, did you?

No.

Thank God you didn't.

- Oh, my God.

- Thank God you didn't.

Thank God I didn't and you didn't.

If one of us had showed up alone...

...that would have sucked.

- I was so concerned.

I felt horrible about not being there,

but I couldn't. My grandma died...

...and she was buried that day,

December 6th.

- The one in Budapest?

- Yes. You remember that?

- I remember everything.

- Of course, it was in your book.

But anyway, I was about to

fly to Vienna, you know...

...and we heard the news about her,

and of course I had to go to the funeral.

Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that.

I know. But you weren't there anyway.

Wait. Why weren't you there?

I would have been there

if I could have. I made plans...

You better have a good reason.

What?

Oh, no.

No, you were there, weren't you?

Oh, no, that's terrible!

I'm laughing, but I don't mean it.

Did you hate me?

You must've hated me.

- Have you been hating me all this time?

- No.

- Yes, you have.

- No.

But you can't hate me now, right?

- I mean, my grandma...

- I don't hate you. It's no big deal.

I flew all the way over there,

you blew the thing off.

My life's been a big nosedive since,

but it's not a problem.

- No, I'm kidding.

- Don't say that. I can't believe it.

You must have been so angry

with me. I'm so sorry.

I wanted to be there,

more than anything in the world.

- Honestly, I swear...

- You can't be angry, my grandmother...

I know. I honestly thought that something

like that might have happened.

I was definitely bummed, but...

Rate this script:5.0 / 2 votes

Richard Linklater

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "Before Sunset" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/before_sunset_3823>.

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