Before Sunrise/Before Sunset (2004) (Back to Back)

This double feature of Richard Linklater films offers a touching snapshot of a couple who meet fleetingly on two separate occasions:

BEFORE SUNRISE: When a young American (Ethan Hawke) traveling through Europe by train meets a beautiful French student (Julie Delpy), he convinces her to spend the day with him in Vienna so the two can get to know each other better. They spend their day exploring the city and before they know it, they find themselves falling in love. Richard Linklater's romantic daydream is a warm and witty comedy that uses the beautiful streets of Vienna as a perfect backdrop for the characters' youthful, budding romance.

BEFORE SUNSET: Nine years ago, director Richard Linklater's BEFORE SUNRISE introduced American twentysomething Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and French twentysomething Celine (Julie Delpy). The two met on a train to Vienna, and spent the night together wandering around the city, talking, and falling for each other. They parted ways, vowing to meet in Vienna in six months. Linklater's latest film, BEFORE SUNSET, picks up where the 1994 film left off. In Paris promoting a novel he has written about their one perfect night together (the two were never reunited), Jesse is dumbfounded when Celine shows up at his last bookstore interview. With just a few hours remaining before his flight back to the States, Jesse and Celine meander through Paris, returning in no time at all to their playful banter, flirtation, and intense conversations about life, love, and the state of the world. Although the sexual tension is palpable, Jesse is married--albeit unhappily--and has a young son, and Celine has a boyfriend. Are these thirtysomethings really soul mates, or ships destined to keep passing in the night? Perhaps only screenwriter Linklater, along with Delpy and Hawke who contributed to the insightful, believable dialogue, know for sure.