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are you trying to say you want to kiss
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me 31 minutes 31 long painstaking
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minutes that's how long it takes to get
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here now I don't mean 31 minutes of
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boredom in fact despite being a film so
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heavy in
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dialogue pick up pick up the phone uh oh
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hello it's quite the opposite this film
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is a roller coaster of subtle tension
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yet there's almost no conflict so how
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can that be it's a romance film these
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are supposed to be whirlwinds of intense
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emotion what do you want it's not that
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simple what do you want there's supposed
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to be creatively witty dialogue does he
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make you laugh he doesn't make me cry
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there's supposed to be either a tragic
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falling out or or a heartfelt resolution
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and I'll get bored with you and feel
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trapped because that's what happens with
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me okay but it's none of that in fact
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all of what this film isn't is exactly
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what makes it one of my favorite films
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of all time one of the best Summers of
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my life summer in 1994 in Vienna with
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Julia delpia I think I can really fall
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in love when I know everything about
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someone so Before Sunrise is lab as a
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romantic drama and it is however what
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you don't expect is just how accurately
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it reflects the actual progression of a
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first encounter Jesse James no no just
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Jess I'm s I'm sure we've all stood in
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line at the airport or in the grocery
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store and thought about having a meat
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cute moment with a person nearby films
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especially romantic ones give us this
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fantasy of what life and dating is going
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to be like but this film doesn't really
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embellish despite it being the perfect
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setting to do so they're in an entirely
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different country and far away from
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their respective homes you're American
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yeah are you sure yeah they're both
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young attractive and well aware that
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whatever happens will be lost to time
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yet there's no love at first sight
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moment here even their first encounter
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is a miscommunication do you have any
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idea what they were arguing
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about do do you speak English yeah no
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I'm sorry my Germany is not very good
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Jesse feeling like he's already dropped
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the ball on the opening turns away but
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Seline follows with her own little nudge
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have you ever heard that as couples get
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older they lose their ability to hear
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each other this is essentially his green
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light to continue the conversation and
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so they would Nature's Way of allowing
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couples to grow old together without
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killing each other there's no sharp and
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witty exchange where they both
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immediately fall Head Over Heels the
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tense body language and anxious laughter
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suggests that that they're still trying
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to get a feel for one another and so
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they play it safe my class start next
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week now you're still in school where'd
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you go yeah you know sure they're aware
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of how fragile an initial exchange can
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be there is no off-color jokes no
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forward flirting just softball questions
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meant to ease attention and slowly get
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to know one another are you coming from
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Budapest yeah I was visiting my
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grandmother oh as
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she she's okay okay she all right she's
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play as this tension eases the
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conversation deepens and they grow
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familiar enough to want to spend the day
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together so listen here's a deal this is
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what we should do you should get off the
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train with me here in Vienna and come
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check out the town what come on it'll be
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fun but this was just the first exchange
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there's no guarantee that they won't
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lose interest throughout the day this
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looming anxiety is noticed almost
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immediately after they enter the city
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this is kind of weird yeah it's kind of
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weird isn't it I mean feel a little
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awkward a sort of what now moment that
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happens from a clear lack of planning
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what would we do um I don't know after
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all these characters are both 23 at an
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age where naivity meets Adventure
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they're still searching for who they are
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still seeing the world through Rose
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tinted glasses still drawn to the appeal
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of what could be if only for an evening
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the dialogue makes it feel like they're
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both constantly aware that tomorrow
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they'll most likely never see each other
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again describe for me your first sexual
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feelings towards a
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person my first sexual feelings oh my
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God the emotional barriers that would
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typically Shield them from either the
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disappointment of rejection or wasted
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time are gone there's essentially no
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risk here so what you get are these
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intensely vulnerable exchanges have you
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ever been in
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love yes next question one's that at
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times even lead to disagreement no no
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after I went into such private details
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about my first sexual feelings sexual
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those are two very different questions I
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mean what if I asked you about
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love I would have lied but at least you
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know I would have made up a great story
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I mean right I mean love is a complex
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issue you know nothing crazy after all
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they are still technically strangers in
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fact it's interesting just how different
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these two people are they come from
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vastly different backgrounds friend
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groups Lifestyles yet none of this seems
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to matter they don't have to accommodate
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anything because for them there is no
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tomorrow this is people have these
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romantic projections they put on
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everything you know it's not based on
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any kind of reality so you're probably
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wondering why continue if it's just
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going to end but it's easy to say that
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from the outside looking in remember
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these are two people who are also
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clinging to a fantasized perception of
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love you are an adventurer a Seeker
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aside from the time constraint this is a
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best case scenario situation and despite
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their quirks and awkwardness they try to
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make it work even teasing the idea of
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something longterm during these
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emotional highs you're going to answer
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yes I'll answer uh what's the problem
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for you you bro what as the viewer you
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can't help but root for them we're
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simultaneously falling for the same
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fantasy one that we know deep down isn't
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sustainable but it's not just the
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dialogue that I find really appealing
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most of the Tells are in the body
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language Ethan Hawk and Julie Delby
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deliver a master class in subtle
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expression throughout the film there's
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this manic eagerness it's almost like
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they're trying to pack as much
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interaction and emotional intimacy as
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they can through either their stories or
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their shared trauma I mean my parents
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are just these two people who didn't
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like each other very much who uh decided
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to get married and have a kid and they
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try their best to be nice to me I always
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have this strange feeling that I'm this
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very old woman laying down about to die
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you know that my life is just memories
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of something I always think that I'm
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still this 13 year-old boy doesn't
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really know how to be an adult
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pretending to live my life taking notes
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for when I'll you know really have to do
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it the more they interact the more they
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realize that they want more out of this
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evening than what their circumstances
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allow what would you be doing I'd
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probably be hanging around the airport
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reading old magazines crying in my
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coffee cuz you didn't come with me both
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of these characters are incredibly eager
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to cross into first base yet it
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absolutely terrifies them they know that
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for them Crossing this boundary will
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sing them further into emotional
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attachment potentially ruining what
00:07:33
could have been a good thing we noticed
00:07:35
this in the record store scene as the
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music plays Jesse and Seline avoid
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prolonged eye contact they don't even
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talk yet the small awkward smirks and
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heavy breathing will tell you that
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Crossing this boundary is almost
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inevitable and so 31 minutes in they
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would but in doing so you get a
00:07:55
completely different shift in Dynamic
00:07:57
but I just think it's an L processed
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rebel against everything that came
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before yeah both of them wanted the
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assurance that came with a first kiss
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but neither one had wanted to overstep
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the others boundaries creating a buildup
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that eventually couldn't be ignored
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however once crossed all of that initial
00:08:14
tension begin to melt away the PDA
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begins to flow ow and both characters
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ease into their more natural selves I'm
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so glad because no one knows I'm here
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and I don't know anyone that knows you
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that would tell me all the bad things
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you've done with this guard down you see
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a more assertive back and forth i'
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probably got enough the train in salburg
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with someone else oh yeah I see so I'm
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just that dumb American momentarily
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decorating your blank canvas this
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Carefree atmosphere leads them to open
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up to one another more than they'd ever
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done before love trauma and even their
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biggest fears sometimes I dream about
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being a good father and a good husband
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but then other times it seems
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silly like it would uh ruin my whole
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life to offset their dizzying interest
00:09:06
they need to periodically remind
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themselves that this is still just
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temporary what's so cool is that this
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whole evening all our time together
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shouldn't officially be happening yet
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each time they do their fantasy begins
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to conflict more with reality you know
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what I mean I could come back here I
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mean
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what what now let's just be rational
00:09:27
adults about this you don't think we'll
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ever see each other
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again what do you think this is exactly
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what they'd feared the looming stress of
00:09:37
a painful goodbye creates more somber
00:09:40
exchanges You couldn't possibly know why
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a night like this is so important to my
00:09:45
life right now but it is they become
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more focused on humoring what if
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scenarios and basking in each other's
00:09:52
company let's say that you and I were
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together all the time you start to hate
00:09:57
a lot of my mannerisms one final cope
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before the inevitable has to happen I
00:10:02
don't know we're back in real time I
00:10:05
know I hate that and so it would but not
00:10:08
without a euphoric last shot attempt to
00:10:11
salvage what's left maybe we should meet
00:10:13
here in 5 years or something all right
00:10:15
all right 5 years 5 years that's a long
00:10:17
time it's awful it's like a sociological
00:10:19
experiment in the closing moments we see
00:10:21
Final Shots of the city but without the
00:10:23
two characters we've been invested in
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throughout the entire film all of the
00:10:27
eagerness is washed away and what
00:10:30
initially felt like a place filled with
00:10:32
the potential for something great just
00:10:34
feels really empty Before Sunrise is the
00:10:37
perfect depiction of a honeymoon phase
00:10:39
high energy High intimacy and a
00:10:42
glamorized perception of what could be
00:10:44
so long as you're willing to overlook
00:10:46
everything that says it can't
