13) “I guess I’ve been heart-broken too many times.” – Before Sunset (2004)
As the sequel to 1995’s Before Sunrise, Sunset is a revelation. While the first film had technically been written by director Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan, this second film saw Linklater co-writing with stars Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke. While the script for the first film is great, the effect of having the performers writing here is electrifying. They seize these characters that they already know so well and pour their hearts and souls into them – breathing very real life into a small, simple story.
This is demonstrated perfectly by Celine’s car-ride monologue. Having been unexpectedly reunited with Jesse (Hawke), nine years after spending one night wandering around Vienna together, the two spend an hour walking through Paris. Jesse is in town promoting a book he has written about their romantic night together, and Celine (Delpy) has spotted his name at a bookshop. They have just over an hour to catch up, before Jesse has to leave for the airport. As they wander, they discuss why their plan to meet 6 months after that night didn’t work, and what has been happening in their lives since. As they talk about their families, their careers and their relationships, emotions gradually become more and more raw, until suddenly, in the relative privacy of a hire car back seat, Celine explodes in frustration and sadness.
“I was fine, until I read your fucking book! It stirred shit up, you know? It reminded me how genuinely romantic I was, how I had so much hope in things, and now it’s like, I don’t believe in anything that relates to love. I don’t feel things for people anymore. In a way, I put all my romanticism into that one night, and I was never able to feel all this again. Like, somehow this night took things away from me and I expressed them to you, and you took them with you! It made me feel cold, like if love wasn’t for me!… You know what? Reality and love are almost contradictory for me. It’s funny. Every single of my ex’s, they’re now married! Men go out with me, we break up, and then they get married! And later they call me to thank me for teaching them what love is, and, and that I taught them to care and respect women!… You know, I want to kill them! Why didn’t they ask me to marry them? I would have said “No,” but at least they could have asked!! But it’s my fault, I know it’s my fault, because I never felt it was the right man. Never! But what does it mean the right man? The love of your life? The concept is absurd. The idea that we can only be complete with another person is evil! Right?!…You know, I guess I’ve been heart-broken too many times. And then I recovered. So now, you know, from the starts I make no effort because I know it’s not going to work out, I know it’s not going to work out.”
It is unexpected and beautiful. Celine has thus far given the impression of being calm and collected, and happy to catch up with Jesse as they wander through the streets. But, as their conversation deepens, and Jesse confides in her his marital woes, she becomes more and more uncomfortable, until finally, she can keep a lid on it no more. She blurts out this painful, sorrowful confession – revealing the swirling torrent of anger and disappointment just below her serene surface. Jesse is the perfect counter-point to her stunning outburst – sitting beside her in silent, open-mouthed surprise – pained at her discomfort, and pained at his perceived role in it. Rarely are screenwriting awards so richly deserved.
14) “Chapter One” – Manhattan (1979)
When somebody says “Woody Allen,” what do you think of? Do you think of him chasing lobsters around the kitchen with Diane Keaton in Annie Hall? Do you think of him of his ferocious early comedies, filled with political satire and edgy humor? Do you think of a man who has been at the centre of repugnant family scandals throughout his career? Well, if you are like me, then you probably think of a picturesque New York in gorgeous black-and-white, set to the jazz strains of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” In other terms, the start of Manhattan.
If the prolific writer-director-actor wanted to sum up his close to 50-film career in one beautiful sentence, he could look back to his slice of life opening from his locally set masterwork. At the start of Manhattan, Allen’s author character, Isaac Davis (and to an extent, Allen himself) is trying to decide the best way to introduce New York City at the beginning of his new book. Allen rehearses different possible openings to this first chapter, focusing on many elements of his city: its romance, its hustle, its dreaminess, its colour, its toughness, and its variety.
He eventually realizes this impossible pursuit of trying to get it all into one sentence, and goes with this: “He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Behind his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat. New York was his town and it always would be.” What a delightful way to sum up the artistic oeuvre of one of the city’s great artists.