Skip to main content

Week 44: Revisiting 'Before Sunrise'

In Vienna, I was a flâneuse with a map. I spent Sunday walking around trying to find as many of the memorable locations from Before Sunrise as possible, with each discovery making my heart beat faster. It was quite a feeling seeing them nearly 2 decades after the movie was shot.

Jesse: Do you believe in reincarnation?
Celine: Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting.

bs1
bsm1
Schottentor (tram)


Jesse: Do you wanna go see if the listening booth still works?

bs2
bsm2
Alt & Neu. Still going strong, still famous, and CLOSED ON SUNDAYS. Boo.


Celine: That's the Danube over there.
Jesse: That's a river, right?

bs3
bsm3
Ferris wheel, Prater.


Fortune teller: You are stardust!

bs4
bsm4
Kleines Cafe. The umbrellas are gone, but the rest looks the same. The church next to it is beautiful.


Jesse: Well, I went to this Quaker wedding once, and it was fantastic. What they do is the couple comes in, and they kneel down in front of the whole congregation, and they just stare at each other. And nobody says a word unless they feel that God moves them to speak, or say something. And then after an hour or so, of just staring at each other, they're married. 
Céline: That's beautiful. I like that.

bs5 bs6 bsm5
Maria am Gestade. The facade is the same though the surroundings are different, and the interior seems different also..


Jesse: You know how they say we're all each other's demons and angels? Well, she was literally a Botticelli angel, telling me everything would be okay. 

bs7 bs8 bsm61 bsm62
Cafe Sperl. Also closed, but looks EXACTLY the same, right down to the upholstery, chairs, tables and lights! (I peered in through the window).


Celine: But then the morning comes, and we turn back into pumpkins, right?

bs9 bsm7
Albertinaplatz. The prettiest part of Vienna.


Oh let not time deceive you, you cannot conquer time.

bs10 bsm8 
Statue of Franz Joseph, Albertinaplatz.


Vienna
July 2012
Canon EOS 500D (and screenshots from the film)

***
Here's a fan video I made of the film and its sequel last year:

Comments