Before Sunrise

"Can the greatest romance of your life last only one night?"

1995 1h 41m EN

🙌

8.0

BANGER

🔥

100%

CERTIFIED FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

8.1

IMDB

★8.0TMDB · 4,900🍅100%Rotten Tomatoes●79Metacritic★8.1IMDB · 373,558

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An unexpected meeting on a train leads two travelers to spend an evening wandering through Vienna. As the night unfolds, they share stories and conversations about life and love, exploring new ideas while a quiet intimacy grows between them, knowing it may be their only night together.

“Can the greatest romance of your life last only one night?”

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Cast

Ethan Hawke
Jesse
Julie Delpy
Céline
Andrea Eckert
Wife on Train
Hanno Pöschl
Husband on Train
Karl Bruckschwaiger
Guy on Bridge
Tex Rubinowitz
Guy on Bridge
Erni Mangold
Palm Reader
Dominik Castell
Street Poet

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Richard Linklater
Writers: Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan
Languages: English, German, French
Countries: Austria, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

31 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, German, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Austria, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Before... Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Richard Linklater, shot by Lee Daniel. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Fred Frith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Sandra Adair shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Richard Linklater directs. Lee Daniel behind the camera. Fred Frith scores. Sandra Adair cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Austria, United States of America. Dialogue in English, German, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
231 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, German, French.
4International production across 2 countries: Austria, United States of America.
5Part of the "Before... Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Richard Linklater, shot by Lee Daniel. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Fred Frith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Sandra Adair shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy and Andrea Eckert carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Can the greatest romance of your life last only one night?".
11IMDB entry: tt0112471 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 8 themes, including "talking", "soulmates", "walking", "austria".
13Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Lee Daniel
Original score: Fred Frith
Editing: Sandra Adair
Production design: Florian Reichmann
Costume design: Florentina Welley
Makeup / hair: Karen Dunst
Sound: Larry Seyer
Runtime: 101 min · 1h 41m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,500,000
Box office: $5,987,386
Return: 239% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Before Sunrise (1995)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 79/100
IMDB rating: 8.1/10 · 373,558 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

2 wins & 7 nominations total

Part of

Before... Collection

The "Before" trilogy—comprising "Before Sunrise," "Before Sunset," and "Before Midnight"—chronicles the evolving relationship of Jesse and Céline, capturing their encounters across three different periods in their lives. Set in picturesque European cities, each film explores the couple's complex yet enthralling connection, unfolding over conversations that are profound, introspective, and richly romantic. Spanning nearly two decades, the trilogy delves into the nuances of love, life choices, and the passage of time, offering a poignant look at the trials and transformations of enduring love.

Also by

Richard Linklater

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Community reviews

What people are saying

edward2017-02-19
Box office $ 5.5 million This was the first time I saw a movie that had nothing close to a human antagonist, yet it kept me glued to the screen. Sure I've read a few novels of the kind but surely they weren't "oh I'm glued" stuff. Everybody at least once in their life dreams of something like this and this movie makes it believable. After watching the movie I really thought that Ethan & Julie must have dated 'cause their conversations were just flowing. Definitely a must see.
Filipe Manuel Neto2023-10-06
★ 7/10
A very simple but very human film, with very good feelings and dialogue. Contrary to what I like to do, I saw this film after seeing its sequel, “Before Sundown”. It's a very nice story about an American tourist who is enchanted by a French student he meets on the train on the way to Vienna, and invites her to spend some time with him. The rest of the film is an intense dialogue between the two through the streets of the city, as emotions and feelings develop. The best thing this film has to offer is the surprising and intensely credible interpretation of the main actors. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are both young, elegant and seem to make a nice couple (of course, the characters, not the actors). I don't know if I'm the only person to think this way, but it seems like the actors felt what the characters were feeling, to the extent that there was sympathy or mutual understanding between the two professionals, and a chemistry that permeated entirely to us. . Directed and written with great skill by Richard Linklater, the film can summarize the first meetings of many young couples out there, and I have no doubt that there are many people who will easily identify with the two characters. Who has never chatted with someone cute on a train or bus? There are friendships that start like this, and I myself have a similar case in my life: I have a friend that I value very much, who is blind and who I met by chance on the train, helping her to sit down on more than one occasion (we were both regular travelers due to work). It's a very human film, full of feelings, and full of good dialogues.
CinemaSerf2026-07-03
★ 7/10
After about five minutes of this, I was resigned to watching a reimagining of "Brief Encounter" (1945) and started to give up. Then, it began to take an altogether different tack as we meet a young and fairly penniless American "Jesse" (Ethan Hawke) who starts chatting with "Celine" (Julie Delpy) on a train journey and there is a visually striking chemistry on display pretty much from the start as their conversation quite quickly progresses from the idle chit chat to more substantial matters of life, love and the pursuit of happiness. He has a flight from Vienna next morning and without the cash for an hotel suggests that she and he spend the night together. Not in bed, but exploring this beautiful city and each other's minds. It's the frankness of their chat that proves really engaging here and the way this double-header sees them effortlessly bounce off each other works really naturally. Perhaps because these two characters are strangers and therefore have nothing to lose, their chat cuts through the strata of politeness and delicacies and soon has them conversing as if they have known each other for all of their lives, and it's meandering style resonates surprisingly effectively as they flirt but try to resist the temptations of the flesh so their romance remains untarnished as she gets on her train next morning. The writing from auteur Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan smacks of a mischievous realism that allows them, and us, to relax and enjoy the warmth of a frivolous yet quite penetrating discourse that is devoid of one-upmanship or advantage seeking. Being set in Vienna does it no harm either, and Linklater ensures we see a fair amount of the city (sometimes serenaded by the odd piece from Strauss) and I was really quite pleasantly surprised with both actors and writers here.