Before Sunrise & Before Sunset: Two Screenplays [Paperback]

Richard Linklater (Author), Kim Krizan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2005

   In one volume, the screenplays to two contemporary classics, directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, about the immediate and life-altering attraction between two strangers.

   On a train from Budapest to Vienna, Jesse, a young American student, at the end of a romance and his European trip, meets Celine, a young French woman. They are immediately attracted. Despite knowing this may be the only time they will see each other, in the next few hours in the city of Vienna, they share everything and promise to meet again. 

   Nearly a decade later, Jesse, now a novelist on a publicity tour, sees Celine in a bookstore in Paris. Again their time is short, and they spend it reestablishing the connection they experienced on their first meeting. Romantic, poignant, understated, and often profound, these two screenplays are sure to become classics in their own right.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Taken together—which they should be—Before Sunrise and Before Sunset make up one of the supreme movie romances of the post-eighties era, an affair of the film and flesh to make the heart leap and the mind dance.” --Chicago Tribune

About the Author

Julie Delpy was born in Paris and appeared in her first film when she was fourteen.  She is best known for her roles in Three Colors: Red and White. She lives in Los Angeles.

Ethan Hawke is best known for his staring roles in the motion pictures Dead Poets Society, Reality Bites, Hamlet, and Training Day, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.  He is also the author of the novels The Hottest State and Ash Wednesday. He lives in New York.

Kim Krizan has written numerous screenplays, including historical biographies of Mata Hari and Anaïs Nin that are currently in development.  She appeared as an actor in Slacker, Dazed and Confused, and Walking Life. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband.

Richard Linklater, a screenwriter and director, has made twelve films, including Slacker, Dazed and Confused, Waking Life, and School of Rock. He is based in Austin.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (May 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400096049
• ISBN-13: 978-1400096046
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #267,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For fans, fascinating!, May 11, 2005

By 

J. Kenney - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Before Sunrise & Before Sunset: Two Screenplays (Paperback)

While it has no photos or interviews or anything, luckily this book is NOT a simple transcript of the two films as released. The book offers the original shooting scripts, and as such, it is a really interesting document for those who dig the films -- there are some deleted scenes and many extended dialogue sequences and things that were ultimately done differently when filmed, especially with SUNRISE (we learn what Jesse's job is on the train, there is a non-verbal scene at a hot dog stand, etc.). There is nothing shocking about this, but it is interesting to see what materials were deleted, shifted, and how the actors add their own bent to the written dialoge, SUNSET has no deleted scenes, but there are many deleted/ altered dialogue passages (apparently, Jesse was thinking of basing his song-based novel on the "Long and Winding Road" in the original draft, although this passage is excised from the film).

Of course, the edits were all the artists choices, whether for pacing or aesthetic reasons, so if you just want to stick with the films, fine. But for fans of these two films, I would likely say that the book will really be enjoyable, as it offers what the movies have, just more of the same!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Etched the definition of romance in my soul, July 17, 2009

By 

Nepenthes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Before Sunrise & Before Sunset: Two Screenplays (Paperback)

Before Sunrise touched my soul when I was 20, and defined for me the very essence of "romantic". Sadly, my own backpacking trip in Europe 4 years later only brought unrequited love and pain. But it was memorable, and gave my life meaning and completed it with stories.
Before Sunset brought me back to those days, making the pain of reality more poignant. I was also unhappily married with a child. It touched me again in a way that I had forgotten.
Reading the screenplays brought out real emotions that I had forgotten, joys and tears that have numbed over the years came back, and I felt somehow alive again.
Heard there will be a 3rd. Looking forward to it with trepidation.
Where and who will I be then?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Screenplays, January 14, 2011

By 

R. Gamby - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Before Sunrise & Before Sunset: Two Screenplays (Paperback)

Well written..The story pulls you in and takes you on the path of a romantic encounter of two strangers that fall in love. Time moves on and on..Till they are together again after years gone by..