‘Before Sunset’ is a gem of a sequel

Rarely do we get to see an actor grow old in a role. It happened in the 1960s, when Peter O’Toole played King Henry II in “Becket” (1964), and then the older but not much wiser Henry of “The Lion in Winter” (1968). And it happened when most of the cast of “The Last Picture Show” (1971) was reunited for “Texasville” (1990).

There’s a poignant, documentary-like quality about these movies because the actors don’t need makeup to age into their parts. That’s also true of Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunset,” his nine-years-later sequel to “Before Sunrise” (1995), in which Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy played young lovers who first met on a train near Vienna.

Quick facts Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Vernon Dobtcheff, Louise Lemoine Torres, Rodolphe Pauly Director: Richard Linklater Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes MPAA rating: R

They don’t look exactly middle-aged now, but when Linklater uses flashbacks from the earlier film to set up their reunion in Paris, they’ve clearly lost all remnants of baby fat. Hawke’s Jesse looks gaunt, which makes him seem less callow, while Delpy’s Celine appears both wearier and goofier.

They’ve both become more interesting people, and it quickly becomes impossible to view them as fictional creatures. They seem to be playing themselves nearly a decade later; it helps that Jesse, like the off-screen Hawke, has become a novelist. Of course they ARE playing other people, but Linklater does such a superb job of blending characters and actors that you almost feel you’re watching a non-fiction film.

Like the earlier movie, “Before Sunset” is inescapably a talkathon, ingeniously staged as a kind of travelogue made up of extra-long takes (one lasting about eight minutes) in which the actors glide through the gorgeous European scenery as if their movements had been subtly choreographed. The major difference is that the talk is no longer about two young strangers who are charming each other into becoming one-night lovers.

It’s about what’s happened during those nine years when they were apart, and what that night meant to each of them, and whether they mean enough to each other to continue. If there’s a false note, it’s Celine’s sudden amnesia on the subject of how intimate they became in Vienna. Delpy can’t quite pull off this apparent attempt at manipulation, and fortunately Celine quickly abandons the pretense.

Much more persuasive are the revelations about the none-too-smooth course of their love lives, Celine’s commitment to her job, Jesse’s enthusiasm about becoming a father, and Celine’s relief that Jesse hasn’t become “one of those freedom-fries Americans.” Perhaps most touching is the delicate way they dance around the subject of what happened to scotch a reunion they were supposed to have years ago.

Jesse and Celine were briefly reunited in cartoon form in Linklater’s 2001 animated feature, “Waking Life,” in which they kidded themselves by discussing metaphysics in bed. It’s hard to see how this episode fits into “Before Sunset”; perhaps it’s just another of those delightful alternative universes Linklater has been exploring since his debut with “Slacker.” In any event, may we please have some more?

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