Before Sunset

Nine years have passed since Jesse and Céline first met on a night in Vienna. In this sequel, Jesse travels across Europe to read from a book inspired by that fleeting moment. In Paris, after a stop for another reading, Céline tracks him down and they spend a single day together. Both are in relationships now, and Jesse has a son, yet a heavy ache between them reappears as they stroll through familiar streets, exchange memories, and weigh what might have happened if time had been different. The dialogue unfolds in long, intimate exchanges, with the city itself shaping mood and feeling. The film strips life to its listening and looking, letting emotion surface without hurry or illusion of resolution.

Directed by Richard Linklater, it rests on an original screenplay by Linklater, Delpy, and Hawke. As the second entry in the trilogy, it is noted for its loose, improvised dialogue that preserves the spontaneity of the first encounter for realism.

Worldwide box office gross stood at $15,992,615, a modest but durable result for an intimate romance drama that found its audience through word of mouth and festival credibility rather than wide scale marketing, becoming a steady seller over months globally.

Cultural impact rests on its intimate, almost documentary approach to romance, with dialogue that steers the emotional pulse rather than action. It helped anchor a wave of indie films that prize long conversations and urban mood, turning Paris into a character in its own right for a generation of filmmakers.

Reception praised the film for its quiet sensibility and the way it builds emotion through dialogue and place. Critics highlighted themes of chance versus choice, memory, and the tension between current commitments and a possible future with someone you once loved. It remains a go to for talk heavy romance.