THE REWATCHABLES · February 3, 2025
A 2004 romance / drama movie directed by Richard Linklater—and decision no. 41 in the Hanks–Cruise tape.
ON THIS EPISODE
FROM THE CONVERSATION
WHY IT WORKS
WHAT DID NOT WORK
SCENES THEY KEPT COMING BACK TO
Jesse sees Celine again at the bookstore during his book tour, and the moment is played as both absurd and devastating.
About 32 minThe initial walk after the bookstore reunion is praised for its nervous tension and small reveals.
About 32 minThe Seine sequence is admired for its romantic pacing and gorgeous city imagery.
About 32 minThe scene where Celine unloads her feelings and Jesse responds is treated as the emotional core of the movie.
About 40 minThe song performance is described as one of the great moments of the century in a movie.
About 48 minThe ending, with its hesitation and final fade-out, is held up as one of the greatest endings in movies.
About 48 minThey admire the apartment arrival and courtyard camera move as elegant storytelling.
About 56 minWHERE THEY DISAGREED
Bill SimmonsSays this one may be the best sequel and is usually the one he would choose if it is the one he is watching.
Mallory RubinSays each film feels like the best while you’re watching it, though she slightly favors Sunset.
Sean FennesseySays Sunrise has the degree-of-difficulty edge, but Sunset is an all-time movie for him.
Craig HorlbeckLoves the first two but refuses to watch the third yet.
Mallory RubinSees it as ultimately optimistic and affirming that people can find their way back.
Sean FennesseySees it as exposing the baggage and pain of bad choices.
Bill SimmonsEnds up agreeing it is both hopeful and painful.
Bill SimmonsPrefers Sunset Celine because she is more interesting and intense.
Mallory RubinDoes not clearly take a side, but emphasizes Delpy’s complexity.
Chris RyanThinks they could have hunted each other down by 2004 and questions the logistics.
Bill SimmonsQuestions whether they had enough information to do that.
Mallory RubinSuggests the film’s emotional stakes depend on the near-impossibility of reunion.
Bill SimmonsAcknowledges the movie makes viewers complicit in rooting against Jesse’s wife.
Craig HorlbeckFrames the sequel as a potential cautionary tale from the wife’s perspective.
Calls it an all-time classic and one of the best sequels ever made.
Opening minutesArgues the movie works because it captures the universal ache of wondering what might have been.
Opening minutesSays the movie feels deeply romantic and convincing, almost as if it isn’t a movie at all.
Opening minutesLoves the absurdity of the bookstore scene and Hawke’s performance in it.
About 32 minTreats the limo scene as one of the most devastating and emotionally honest scenes in the franchise.
About 40 minCalls the listening booth/car progression maybe his favorite movie scene ever.
About 16 minPraises Delpy as a crucial part of the film’s emotional power and the harder role to pull off.
About 24 minAdmires the movie’s tight, real-time construction and minimalism.
About 8 minSays the film’s use of time is one of its greatest strengths and ties into Linklater’s career-long obsession.
About 1:04Says the films are perfect but worries the third one is emotionally harder to face.
About 1:12The panel sees the movie as a powerful exploration of what happens when two people get a second chance with the one who got away.
Opening minutesThe film is praised for capturing the movement from youthful idealism to adult compromise, regret, and self-knowledge.
About 8 minThe panel repeatedly discusses Jesse and Celine as alternating between romantic hope and defensive cynicism across the trilogy.
About 16 minThe ending is treated as fantasy fulfilled through incredibly honest dialogue that people usually never say out loud.
About 48 minThe movie’s power is linked to what it withholds: no sex scene, no big set pieces, only conversation and longing.
About 48 minThe film is discussed as a sequel released nine years after the first movie’s events and set over roughly one afternoon.
Opening minutesThe movie was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay because sequels are placed in the adapted category.
About 24 minThe movie made about $15 million on a $2.7 million budget.
About 24 minThe movie was shot in about 15 days and at the same time of day for continuity.
About 1:04Mallory says the final scene was being written at 3 a.m. the night before shooting.
About 1:20The film’s runtime is repeatedly noted as 80 minutes, which the panel loves.
About 32 minThe panel says the lines and emotions in the limo scene feel like real unfiltered truth rather than therapized dialogue.
About 40 minThe episode jokes that the movie could have a porn parody titled 'Before Cum Set' or 'Before Cum Rise'.
About 1:12The panel notes that the characters did not have to rely on phones or social media to find each other in 2004, but it would be harder today.
About 56 minUsed as the predecessor film and a key comparison for the sequel’s emotional and structural approach.
Opening minutesMentioned as another place where Linklater reused these characters.
About 16 minUsed as the gold standard for sequels.
About 24 minMentioned as a long-form life-chronicle comparison to the trilogy.
About 24 minListed by Bill among great sequels.
About 24 minListed by Bill among great sequels and later used as a comparison for the limo scene’s acting difficulty.
About 24 minListed by Bill among great sequels.
About 24 minMentioned as a sequel that Bill counts in the conversation.
About 24 minReferenced as a contemporary Oscar rival and as a high-profile 2004 film.
About 24 minReferenced as a 2004 Oscar rival and a screenplay benchmark.
About 24 minReferenced as the Oscar Best Picture winner over this film.
About 24 minUsed jokingly while speculating about Jesse’s French book-tour coverage.
About 1:04 · medium confidenceIdentified as the bookstore location in Paris.
About 56 minReferenced as the song/recording used over the ending montage.
About 48 minMentioned in a quick comparison while discussing Paris on film.
About 1:20 · medium confidenceA recurring joke about a prior podcast wound and shared inside references among the hosts.
Opening minutesBill jokes about Fantasy logging movies and spoiling future episodes.
Opening minutesThe panel repeatedly returns to the idea of missed connections and alternate lives.
Opening minutesThe Heat character is used as shorthand for emotional armor and aloneness.
About 40 minThe hosts joke about the plausibility of Jesse’s minor bestseller and European tour.
About 1:04Craig repeatedly jokes that Celine is a bad cat owner and that Che deserves better.
About 1:04“What if you had a second chance”Opening minutes
“one of the greatest acts of wish fulfillment”About 8 min
“I don't know what to do. Let's go get coffee.”Opening minutes
“Maybe I'm just burned out from sequels nowadays”About 1:12
“You're just characters in that old lady's dream.”About 48 min
MAKE IT A MOVIE NIGHT
WHAT TO WATCH NEXT
Three movies to watch before Before Sunset, and three to watch next.
ON THE MIC
Bill Simmons125 tracked appearances · 56 H / 64 C / 5 ties
Chris Ryan77 tracked appearances · 36 H / 38 C / 3 ties
Sean Fennessey35 tracked appearances · 15 H / 17 C / 3 ties
Mallory Rubin12 tracked appearances · 4 H / 6 C / 2 tiesCATEGORY CONTEXT
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