Before Sunrise

Well, I promised movie reviews (of sorts) so here is the very first!

Last week the hubby and I watched Before Sunrise, which is the movie that comes before Before Sunset that is out right now. When I found out that Before Sunset was a sequel, I decided I wanted to watch the first one first. In Before Sunrise, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy play young travelers who meet on a train in Europe. They strike up a conversation and realize they have a special connection, which leads to Ethan Hawke's character inviting Julie Delpy's character to spend his last night in Europe with him. She takes a chance and agrees.

The conversation they share is unlike any other movie I have watched. It was extremely real, much more like listening in to a real life conversation, rather than a made-for-a-movie conversation. I would not be surprised at all to find that much of the conversation was improv. Although at times the conversation is a little boring, what held my attention was the very realistic way that these two characters were growing in their connection to one another.

As the story progresses this couple discusses the future of their relationship. Will they stay in touch? Say they will try to stay in touch but inevitably drift apart? Or will they see the relationship as a short little serendipitous day, and leave it at that? What caught my attention here was that they seemed to think that although they felt something very special, they felt like time had stopped and they had something that could not be continued on in real life, even though they wanted it to. So they decide to not even try.

I have experienced moments and days where time seemed to stand still and everything was perfect. I think lots of people probably have. What do we do with those experiences? Do we just decide, "This is great but real life won't let this go on, so why try?" or do you do everything you can to try to keep it alive, to hang on, to recreate it even in the mundane?

And, if we do not take those awesome time-stopping moments and hang on, what is it that we are trading them for?

If we are not inclined to follow our heart, even if the odds seem against us, what good is a heart? (oh boy, it's getting late and I'm getting a little sappy....)

Seeing the magical way this ficticious relationship came together reminded me of past wonderfulness that I shared with my husband, many of which were before we got married. I remember that many people seemed to have a low tolerance or even distain for the romantic cloud we were on. Even at a "young marrieds" Sunday School class at a church we visited a few times when we were newlyweds, the sentiment seemed to be that all too soon we would be off our happy little cloud, and down to good old fashioned hating each other. I didn't buy that crap then, and I don't buy it now.

Yes, life can be boring. Things get routine. Hardships can make it difficult to be happy and at peace. We've been married for 13 years and I think that our feelings have run a pretty wide range of emotions, both good and bad. Know what made us the strongest? The hardest stuff. The worst times. The scariest times. The times when we didn't know what else to do besides hang on to each other and stick it out. Those are the threads in the tapestry that are the strongest and hold the rest together. The We Made it Through threads. And somehow, all of that weaves into more opportunities for living on Cloud 9. For bliss every now and then. Even if we can't have it all the time, it's worth all the rest to have it some of the time. :) And we do.

At the end of the movie the characters face their feelings with passion rather than at arms' length. Now I am really looking forward to seeing Before Sunset.