For a long time, I havent treated myself by staying at home on Friday night, sitting on the chair, turning on a movie and watching it. That Friday night was the night I did it. My friend told me many times to watch the series “Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight”. And her recommendation was really beyond wonderful.

This is the first movie that I write a review for. The first movie that I think I can share the same feeling with the two main leads. The first movie that makes my heart flutter from the beginning to the ending of the film. The first movie that urges me to share with somebody or at least write something just not to forget the feelings that I had during the film. The first movie that Im sure I will rewatch it many times, just to catch any small details of the movie, to see again the romance between the two leads and to live like the way they are acting, but not really acting – just like they are really in love.

Everything has a start….

The movie starts with a train on the way. A middle-age couple is arguing. And maybe Jessie and Celine need to thank this couple for bringing them together. They sit next to each other cuz of this couple. Their first conversation is about this couple. And the question that Celine asks Jesse really has an impact on me. I dont know whether the director or the writer has any implications on this conversation. But I know they’re truly amazing writers. I cant believe I can love every details of the movie, like this one:
– Have you ever heard that as couples get older, they lose their ability to hear each other? 
– No
– Well, supposedly, men lose the ability to hear higher-pitched sounds and women eventually lose hearing in the low end….
Not sure whether this is true or not but it has something… This scene somehow connects with the 3rd part of this series when they’re 41 and that’s when they get older and really this part is when they have serious arguments that somehow I think even could lead them to break up.

The 2nd scene that makes me amazed and smile is when they talk to each other in the eating room of the train. Just a normal conversation like any other conversations when the two strangers learn about each other. They talk about their destinations, their lives, their motivations, their dreams, their childhood…. But inside those small talkings, I can feel something connected in their lives and in their eyes. Not that easy to find a soulmate who you can share everything and understand you so much. And these two are so lucky to find each other in an unexpected situation. And one thing I cannot forget is the way he tries to persuade her to get off with him.
– Jump ahead, ten, twenty years, and you’re married. Only your marriage doesnt have the same energy that it used to have. You start to blame your husband. You start to think about all those guys you’ve met in your life and what might have happened if you’d pick up with one of them? Well, Im one of those guys. So think of this as time travel, from then to now…..
Yeah, you will not regret about what you did but you will forever regret about what you didnt do and you will always ask yourself what if…. That’s what I learn from him, from this scene, to tell myself everyday. Whenever I ask myself should I do this or not, I will just do it cuz I know at least I try, at least I will not ask myself about those silly questions what if I did, at least I have an experience.

So their trip in Vienna just starts simply like this: no plan, no destination, no accomodation… Where they want to go, they will go. Where they want to stop, they will stop. Where they want to enjoy, they will enjoy. The thing is that it’s not important where you go, it’s the person who you accompany.

Their first stop is a music shop where they listen to a song together. A scene that can steal my heart. The way they cannot look into each other’s eyes. The way he stares at her for a long time, she can feel it and when she looks into his eyes, he just cannot stand her eyes. A little bit awkward, a little bit crush, a little bit love is happening.
“There’s a wind that blows in from the north
And it says that loving takes its course
Come here
Come here
No I’m not impossible to touch
I have never wanted you so much
Come here 
Come here
Have I never lay down by your side?
Baby, let’s forget about this pride
Come here
Come here….”

And their first kiss happens in the Ferris wheel when the sunset comes, when they can see the whole view of Vienna. For me, it’s a bit early but then thinking again, it’s not. It happens at a right time for a couple who can just be with each other for a night. Only night. One night.

The scene with the palm reader captures my eyes again. Not that because it’s the first fight and argument they have, but the descriptions the palm reader tells her.
“You’re an adventurer, you seek. An adventurer in your mind. You are interested in the power of woman, in a woman’s deep strength and creativity…”

Their next stop is a church in Vienna. A part of the reasons why I feel so interested in this movie is cuz I feel so connected with this girl. Even when she’s 23, when she’s 32 or when she’s 41. Some of her thoughts are exactly what I am wondering in my life.
“Even though I reject most of the religious things, I cant help but feeling for all those people that come here lost or in pain, guilt, looking for some kinds of answers. It fascinates me how a single place can join so much pain and happiness for so many generations.”

Maybe it can only happen in a movie. Too romantic in a way that cannot happen in real life. A poem by a poetry freelancer on the road, only by a stranger, but so suitable for the two used-to-be strangers turn to each other’s crushes – I cannot call them lovers cuz they are not lovers now, they are also not a couple cuz no one talks about this, the most suitable words for them is crush – not official, but still have some impacts on each other’s lives.
“Day dream delusion. 
….
I want you to know everything
Dont want you to guess anymore
You have no idea where I came from
We have no idea where we’re going
Launched in life
Like branches in the river.
Flowing downstream
Caught in the current
I’ll carry you. You’ll carry me. 
That’s how it could be. 
Dont you know me
Dont you know me by now?”

“If there’s any kind of magic in this world, it must be in the attempt of understanding someone, sharing something. I know, it’s almost impossible to succeed, but who cares, really? The answer must be in the attempt.”

And there are more and more scenes that impresses me so much that I can not write it all here. Where they pretend talking on phone to confess their true feelings with each other; where they’re on the boat talking about their only night and whether it’s possible for them to meet again; where they try to steal drinking glasses and wine from a bar; where they enjoy a moon scene with each other while lying on the grass, enjoying the wine they “borrow” and loving each other or where the sunrise comes, they need to say goodbye. A goodbye means really goodbye cuz they dont know whether they can meet again or not.

I always hate something like good bye. It maybe easier for some one who’s the one to say good bye, who’s the one to go, but it’s so difficult and hard for a person to stay and see the other one to go on the train or plane… That’s why I dont want to be a “stay person”. So selfish but just to protect my heart in a certain way. At least these two dont have to say good bye when one is “go person” and one is “stay person” cuz both of them will be back to their normal lives not in Vienna, but France and US. The movie ends with the glimpses of those places that they happen to be with each other.

I know. Memories come and stay forever. In mind and heart. 

The final scene really gives me a question. What if they exchange contacts and address? They wont have to wait for 9 years to meet again. But then, I understand why they decide like that. The right and true person will finally finds you no matter where you are and how old you are. If they’re meant to be just one night, it means even they try to keep contact, they will finally be apart. But if they’re meant to be with each other, even they dont know any thing about the other person, finally in some way, they can find each other.

23. The most beautiful age for anyone. And sure, it will be much more special for these two. And for any other who can happen to find their true soulmate…

Is it too romantic? Can it happen in real life? Is there something called true love out there? Is there something called forever out there?