Daily Dialogue — January 20, 2016
INT. TRAIN STATION — DAY
Jesse and Céline walk side by side. A LOUDSPEAKER makes an inaudible announcement.
Jesse: Yeah. No problem.
Céline points at the coach. They stop.
Céline: I should get on this one.
Jesse: Right here? You wanna get on there? All right.
Céline: Yeah.
Jesse: Um.
They hold hands.
Céline: Okay… I guess this is it, no?
Jesse starts breathing heavy, like after a workout or from anxiety.
Jesse: Yeah. Um, I really…
A couple of deep breaths.
Jesse: I, uh, I… I mean, you know —
Céline: Yeah, I know what you — I, uh, I… Have a great life. Have fun with everything you’re gonna do, y’know. Work hard.
Jesse: All right, all right. Good luck with school and all that.
Céline: Okay.
Jesse: Wow, I hate this.
Céline: Me too. The train is about to leave.
They kiss and hug. They stop, and from this point on their voices are rushed.
Jesse: Listen, listen.You know with all this bullshit we’re talking about — about not seeing each other again? I don’t want to do that.
Céline: I don’t wanna do that either.
Jesse: You don’t either?
Céline: I was waiting for you to say something.
Jesse: Well, why didn’t you say something?
Céline: I was afraid maybe you didn’t wanna see me.
Jesse: All right, all right. Well listen, listen. What do you wanna do?
Céline: Maybe… maybe we should meet in here in five years or something?
Jesse: All right, all right. Five years… Five years? That’s a long time.
Céline: Yes, it’s awful. It’s like a sociological experiment… How about one year?
Jesse: One year. All right, all right… One — How about six months?
Céline: Six months?
Jesse: Yeah?
Céline: It’s gonna be freezing.
Jesse: Yeah!
They start laughing.
Céline: Yeah!
Jesse: Who cares? We come here, we go somewhere else.
Céline: Okay. Okay.
Pause.
Céline: Uh, six months from now or last night?
Jesse: Um, uh… Shit, uh, last night. Six months from last night which was uh… uh, June sixteenth. So, uh, track nine… six months from now at six o’clock at night.
Céline: Dece — December.
Jesse: December, yeah. Now listen, it’s a train ride for you. I gotta fly all the way over here and shit like that, all right. But I’m gonna be here.
Céline: Okay. Me too.
Jesse: All right.
Pause.
Céline: And we’re not gonna call, write or…?
Jesse: Nah, that’s depressing.
Céline: Yeah, okay.
Jesse: All right.
They kiss.
Jesse: All right, your train’s gonna leave. Say goodbye.
Céline: Bye.
Jesse: Goodbye.
Céline: Au revoir.
Jesse: Later.
They kiss again and then Jesse helps Céline onto the train.
— Before Sunrise (1995), written by Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan
Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Farewell. Suggested by stetsonhayes. Today’s suggestion by Gregory A. Netterville.
Trivia: The idea for the movie came from a night Richard Linklater spent walking around Philadelphia with Amy, a woman he met. Contrary to the movie, they stayed in touch for a while, until contact was lost. Linklater never heard from her again, not even when he became a director and Before Sunrise (1995) was released. It was not for many years later that he found out that Amy had died in a traffic accident a few years after they had met.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Gregory: “Before Sunrise was released 21 years ago this month. Like so many others, I’m a fan of all of Linklater’s films and am looking forward to Everybody Wants Some this April. The “Goodbye, Au Revoir, Later” Scene in Sunrise is purely romantic. All of the heavy stuff got moved aside earlier and now we’re left to wonder if these two people will ever find each other again… * spoiler alert * They did! I just love their mannerisms and language (very sparse at the end) in this scene.”
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