Set in Paris nine years after Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) meet in Vienna for the first time in Before Sunrise, Before Sunset is an equally if not more engrossing account of yet another brief encounter, no doubt because there is now so much more at stake than before. 

Unhappily married and in the city for just an afternoon to promote his novel – a memoir of the night he spent with Céline years earlier – Jesse is startled when the subject of his book appears at the public reading he is doing for a small crowd of devoted listeners. With barely any time to spare before he has to catch his flight home, the couple begin to recognize their importance to each other, something illustrated most poignantly when Céline sings a waltz she has written for Jesse as the day is drawing to a close. 

Richard Linklater’s 1st film in this trilogy, Before Sunrise, is showing on June 1st (14.00) & 5th (19.00). His latest, Before Midnight, is opening at the IFI on June 21st.