I watched Before Sunset on a whim one night. I didn’t know anything going into it—only that it came highly recommended from a friend. It started slow, but I was immediately struck by how authentic the interaction between the two actors felt. They moved from awkwardness to vulnerability in only 80 minutes.
About halfway into the film on a boat in the Seine, Céline talks about past flings and relationships. She talks about how her past lovers haunt her. Each lover being this collection of mundane, beautiful behaviours and qualities, and how she mourns their passage in and out of her life. I literally sat up on the couch and leaned as close to the TV as I could while she said all this. We get, what, maybe a handful of these kinds of connections throughout our lives—knowing someone like few ever will. What a precious treasure that is.
“I always feel like a freak because I’m never able to move on like (snaps her fingers) this! You know? People just have an affair or even… entire relationships… they break up and they forget! They move on like they would have changed brand of cereals! I feel I was never able to forget anyone I’ve been with. Because each person have… their own specific qualities. You can never replace anyone. What is lost is lost.
Each relationship when it ends really damages me; I never fully recover. That’s why I’m very careful with getting involved because… it hurts too much! Even getting laid - I actually don’t do that. I will miss of the person the most mundane things. Like I’m obsessed with little things.
Maybe I’m crazy, but… when I was a little girl, my mom told me that I was always late to school. One day she followed me to see why. I was looking at chestnuts falling from the trees rolling on the sidewalk or… ants crossing the road… the way a leaf casts a shadow on a tree trunk… little things. I think it’s the same with people. I see in them little details so specific to each of them that move me and that I miss, and… will always miss. You can never replace anyone, because everyone is made of such beautiful specific details.”