Films › Screenwriting
Before Sunset
Directed by Richard Linklater, 2004
Linklater, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy wrote it together, and it plays close to real time across a single afternoon in Paris. Long unbroken walk-and-talks require dialogue that can survive without cutaways. Nine years of offscreen history are delivered through evasion and correction rather than exposition. The ending stops one beat before resolution, which is a writing decision more than a directing one. Cinematographer Lee Daniel shot in extended real-time takes, some running many minutes, which meant actors had to carry entire scenes without a safety net of coverage. The Paris locations were used practically, with traffic and pedestrians left in frame, adding unplanned texture the script could not have scripted. Writers studying dialogue should note how the compressed real time forces every line to do more than one job. Delpy and Hawke reportedly contributed autobiographical material to the dialogue, and that lived-in specificity is part of why the conversation never feels written.
What to watch for
Watch the courtyard and car scenes for how information arrives sideways.
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