Baby,You Are Going To Miss That Plane
I guess when you’re young, you just believe there’ll be many people with whom you’ll connect with. Later in life, you realize it only happens a few times.
-Before Sunset
How much is one night of genuine connection worth? That is the question asked in Richard Linklater’s “Before” Trilogy. An American man named Jesse (Ethan Hawke) asks a virtual stranger, a French woman named Celine, (Julie Delpy) to step off the train with him in Vienna. The rest, as you say, is history.
The first film “Before Sunrise” explores what happens that first night. Without even enough money to purchase a hotel room, Jesse and Celine wander around Vienna with only their conversation to keep them entertained. They are young and not yet acquainted with the grievances of the world. They ask big questions but have no practical experience to back it up. How much can college students know about the world? How much can they know about love?
There is a curiosity and a chemistry between the two that is undeniable. They are not yet wedded to their answers or beliefs because they are still in the process of exploring them. But like most people, there is a natural defensiveness that crops up again and again. It is not a result of each other but the natural barriers that all humans erect.
Even at that young age, they have been spurned by lovers and by others for their ridiculous thoughts. With each other, they are unsure of what alchemical reactions are taking place. They are free to talk about the most errant thoughts that cross their mind. Things I am sure they have rarely shared with other people or even clarified with themselves. No topic of conversation is off limits as they broach the nature of relationships, life-death and the rebirth process, where God resides and how this big crazy thing called existing operates.
It seems to me that most valuable parts of life are where you are just allowed to be you. For a moment, you can just sit down and just breathe. All your problems will be waiting for you when you get back up. But if you really get into the hang of what I am saying—then the person that sits down will not be the same person that gets up.
Jesse and Celine experience something akin to this which is rare indeed. The climax of the night is lovemaking under the open night sky, in the local park.
With the return of morning, the couple comments that reality and all its dread is also returning. They walk to the train station where they will say goodbye. Millions of thoughts racing through their heads. Is this what love feels like? Was this a one-night stand? Are encounters like this rare or are they a part of what this whole being adult thing is about?
They try to play it cool and say they will not see each other again. But they quickly drop that fake pretense. After some bargaining and heart to heart honesty, they agree to meet in Vienna six months from now—without even exchanging contact information. The couple places their hope that the magic of the universe will re-unite them. The movie ends with them departing and we have no idea what happens until…
Nine years later when Jesse and Celine reunite in a bookstore in Paris. The magic of the universe moves in it’s own time. Jesse has become an author, his latest novel being a retelling of the night he spent with Celine. She was only able to track Jesse down due to the success of his book.
Now “Before Sunrise” is a good film but the sequel of their Parisian reunion “Before Sunset” is an excellent one. With a runtime of only eight minutes it is sharper, more direct and cuts deeper to the core then its predecessor. Jesse and Celine no longer have time for games—Celine explains how she missed the reunion due to the death of her grandmother. Jesse says he didn’t show up, but quickly capitulates and said he did. He borrowed money from his father for the flight, hanged up flyers depicting Celine’s likeness when she didn’t show up and cried alone in a hotel room for a week.
Their reunion is limited by the fact that Jesse has a plane to catch in the morning but such a thing is a joke. He loved her at first sight, he still loves her—so what’s the point of lying?
And out comes the deluge of truths that come from over three decades of grappling with life. My favorite line in the movies comes from Celine who explains when you are young you think the magic of human connection is waiting around every corner. But as you get older and a bit wiser, you start to put two and two together and discover that very few people actually care. They are so involved in themselves (and the beliefs that constitute themselves) that a moment of genuine connection is worth all the gold in the lands. Only when two people relax around each can there be a chance.
And how much is that worth? Defensiveness is there when Jesse and Celine meet again. But now it is centered around “Am I an idiot for thinking about a single night for the next nine years?” But as time for Jesse’s flight continues to tick and the truth-bombs continue to roll-out, we learn they have kept each other in their hearts.
The walls begin to crumble. Jesse admits he only wrote the book because it was the only chance he would meet Celine again. A grueling and draining feat which took four years, all while he had a wife and kid. Celine admits in tears that all her loves have been failures, warm-but no different than any other function like eating or sleeping. Despite the fact that Jesse has a plane to catch, Jesse decides to head up to Celine’s apartment to watch her play the guitar.
The victory of this couple is close at hand after so much time apart. Jesse sits down in the corner couch with a big grin on his face, watching Celine perform and counting down to the inevitable.
After the guitar performance, Celine jumps into a Nina Simone impression. She flirtatiously struts around her apartment imitating the way Simone was famous for playing with her audiences. The same way she is playing with Jesse and the director is playing with us. She tells Jesse in her sultry Simone voice “Baby, you are going to miss that plane.”
Jesse smiles and coolly responds “I know.”