Before Sunset

Do you consider the book

to be autobiographical?

Well, I mean...

...isn't everything autobiographical?

I mean, we all see the world

through our own tiny keyhole, right?

I mean, I always think

of Thomas Wolfe.

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 anybody who sits down to write

will use the clay of their own life...

...that you can't avoid that.

So when I look at my own life,

I have to admit, right, that I...

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 so I thought,

if I could write a book...

...that could capture what it's like

to really meet somebody...

One of the most exciting things

that's happened to me...

...is to meet somebody,

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?

I'll try to be more specific.

Was there ever a French young woman

on a train you met...

...and spent an evening with?

See, to me, that... I mean...

...that's not important, you know?

- So that's a yes?

All right, since I'm in France and this

is the last stop of my book tour, yes.

Thank you.

Mr. Wallace, the book ends

on an ambiguous note.

We don't know.

Do you think they get back together

in six months...

...like they promise each other?

Like they promised?

I think how you answer that,

you know, is...

It's a good test, right,

if you're a romantic or a cynic.

Right? I mean, you think

they get back together, right?

- You don't, for sure.

- No.

And you hope they do,

but you're not sure.

- That's why you're asking the question.

- Do you think they get back together?

I mean, did you in real life?

Did I in real...?

Look, in the words

of my grandfather, okay:

"To answer that would take

the piss out of the whole thing. "

We just have the time

for one last question.

What is your next book?

I don't know, man. I don't know.

I've been...

I've been thinking about this...

Well, I always kind of wanted

to write a book...

...that all took place

within the space of a pop song.

Like three or four minutes long,

the whole thing.

The story, the idea,

is that there's this guy, right...

...and he's totally depressed.

His great dream was to be a lover,

an adventurer, you know...

...riding motorcycles

through South America.

And instead he's sitting

at a marble table eating lobster.

He's got a good job and

a beautiful wife, right, but that...

Everything that he needs.

But that doesn't matter...

...because what he wants

is to fight for meaning.

You know? Happiness

is in the doing, right?

Not in the getting what you want.

So he's sitting there,

and just that second...

...his little 5-year-old daughter

hops up on the table.

And he knows that she should

get down, because she could get hurt.

But she's dancing to this pop song

in a summer dress.

And he looks down...

...and all of a sudden, he's 6.

And his high-school sweetheart

is dropping him off at home.

And they just lost their virginity,

and she loves him...

...and the same song is playing

on the car radio.

And she climbs up and starts dancing

on the roof of the car.

And now he's worried about her.

And she's beautiful, with a facial

expression just like his daughter's.

In fact, maybe that's why

he even likes her.

You see, he knows he's not

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