LIFE HAD GOT HOLD OF US

MY COMMENT IN MY BLOG IN REPLY TO MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE:
http://celinejulie.wordpress.com/2007/05/05/before-sunset-the-green-ray/

If you like Linklater, I really recommend you to watch Rohmer, but not his period films. BEFORE SUNRISE is really like a Rohmer's film, because Rohmer is great when he deals with the issues of young romantic love. But the romanticness in his films is much more grounded in reality than most romantic films by other directors. Rohmer can capture many little aspects of humans, just like Linklater. And the dialogues in Rohmer and Linklater are very very real.

THE GREEN RAY is fit to be viewed together with BEFORE SUNSET, because THE GREEN RAY is about a woman who searches for the green ray of the sun "before sunset" in the evening. Hahaha.

My feelings for THE GREEN RAY is rather strange, because I hate DELPHINE (Marie Riviere), the main female character in this film, very much. I don't like her behaviors at all. She is a killjoy. I wouldn't want to know her if she exists in real life. I wouldn't want to go on a vacation with her. But even though I hate her, I sympathize with her deeply. Her search for true love is the feeling that I can share.

I also like LA COLLECTIONNEUSE very much. I like every film of Rohmer that has something to do with the sea, especially PAULINE AT THE BEACH (1983) and A SUMMER'S TALE (1996), both of which share the same main star – Amanda Langlet. I think I'm more like Margot, the character Langlet played in A SUMMER'S TALE, because she falls in love with a guy who already has a girlfriend. But I prefer the ending of THE GREEN RAY to A SUMMER'S TALE.

If you like the atmosphere of Paris in BEFORE SUNSET, I suggest you watch RENDEZVOUS IN PARIS (1995, Eric Rohmer), which nicely captures the landscape of Paris.

But if you like the theme of "love lost" in BEFORE SUNSET, I suggest you watch DEJA VU (1997, Henry Jaglom) and A WINTER'S TALE (1992, Eric Rohmer).

A memorable quote from DEJA VU from imdb.com:

To cheat oneself out of love is the most terrible deception, it is an eternal loss for which there is no reparation, neither in time or eternity.

I think this quote is applicable to BEFORE SUNSET, too.

Spiritualityandpractice.com also wrote that DEJA VU (1997) teaches us that our lives can be turned around in the blink of an eye by chance encounters. I also think this theme can also be found in BEFORE SUNRISE and Wong Kar-wai's films.


Other quotes from DEJA VU (1997)

1."He knew where to find me. Life had got hold of us"—This sentence is said by an old French woman who was deserted by her American GI lover after WWII.

2."A week hasn't gone by since I last saw her that I haven't thought of her. She was the love of my life."

Somehow I feel as if these two sentences can be applicable to the lovers of BEFORE SUNSET, too. :-)

I haven't seen HOLIDAY, but I also like HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (A+) very much. I also like VENDREDI SOIR (A+) and C.R.A.Z.Y. (A), though not as much as to put them in my top ten lists. As for movies about brief encounters, my favorite one is BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, though it is ten times more melodramatic than VENDREDI SOIR. Both films are great in their own ways, I think. As for movies about gay and family, my favorite one is TORCH SONG TRILOGY (1988, Paul Bogart).