03 May 2008

Before Sunrise Quotes


Title: Before Sunrise



Céline ?: Have you heard that as couples age, they lose their ability to hear each other?
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: No.
Céline ?: Supposedly, men lose their ability to hear high-pitched sounds, and women lose hearing in the low end. I guess they nullify each other or something.
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: I guess. Nature's way of allowing couples to grow old together without killing each other.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: How do you speak such good English?
Céline ?: I went to school for a summer in Los Angeles... and I spent some time in London.
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Wow.
Celine ?: How do you speak such good English?
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Me? I'm American.
...
Céline ?: I knew you were American. And you don't speak any other language, right?

Céline ?: But you know what? If your parents never fully contradict you about anything, and are nice and supportive, it makes it even harder to officially complain, even when they're wrong. It's this passive-aggressive shit, you know what I mean? I hate it. I really hate it.

Céline ?: I think I'm afraid of death. I swear... And I'm so scared of those few seconds of consciousness before you die, when you know you're gonna die. I can't stop thinking that way. It's exhausting.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: I got an idea. Are you ready? It's Q&A time. We've known each other a little while now, we're stuck together, so we'll ask each other a few direct questions. All right?
Céline ?: So we ask each other questions?
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: And you have to answer 100% honestly.
...
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Describe for me your first sexual feelings towards a person.
...
Céline ?: Have you ever been in love?
...
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Tell me something that really pisses you off.
...
Céline ?: I hate that 300 kilometers from here, there's a war and people are dying, and nobody knows what to do. Or they don't give a shit, I don't know.
Céline ?: I hate that the media's trying to control our minds.
...
Céline ?: I hate when I'm in foreign countries, especially in America, they're the worst, each time I wear black or lose my temper or say anything about anything, you know, they always go, "Oh, it's so French. It's so cute." I hate that. I can't stand that, really.
...
Céline ?: What's a problem for you?

Céline ?: I always liked the idea of all those unknown people lost in the world. When I was a little girl, I thought if none of your family or friends knew you were dead, then it's like not really being dead. People can invent the best and the worst for you.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Everybody's parents fucked them up. Rich kids' parents gave them too much. Poor kids', not enough. Too much attention, not enough attention. They either left or taught them the wrong things.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: I remember my mother once told me right in front of my father, they were having this big fight, that he didn't really want to have me. You know, that he was pissed off when he found out she was pregnant with me, that I was this big mistake. That really shaped the way I think. I always saw the world as this place where I really wasn't meant to be.
Céline ?: That's so sad.
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: No. I mean, I eventually kind of took pride in it. You know, like my life was my own doing or something, like I was crashing a big party.
Céline ?: That's a way to see it.

Céline ?: You know, I've been wondering lately... Do you know anyone who's in a happy relationship?
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Yeah, sure. You know, I know happy couples. But I think they lie to each other.

Céline ?: People can live their whole life as a lie.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: People put romantic projections on everything. It's not based in any kind of reality.

Céline ?: I love the way the people are dissolving into the background. Look at this, it's like the environments are stronger than the people. His human figures are always so transitory.

Céline ?: I was in an old church like this with my grandmother a few days ago in Budapest. Even though I reject most of the religious thing, I can't help but feeling for those people that come here lost or in pain, looking for some kind of answers. It fascinates me how a single place can join pain and happiness of so many generations.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: You're close with your grandmother?
Céline ?: Yeah. I think it's because I always have this strange feeling that I'm this very old woman laying down, about to die. You know, that my life is just her memories or something.
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: That's so wild. I always think that I'm still this 13-year-old boy who doesn't really know how to be an adult, pretending to live my life, taking notes for when I'll really have to do it. Like I'm in a dress rehearsal for a junior high play.

Céline ?: You know, you hear so much shit about people. I always feel like the general of an army when I start dating a guy. Plotting my strategy and maneuverings... knowing his weak points, what would hurt him (or) seduce him. It's horrible.

Céline ?: Why does everyone think conflict is so bad? There's a lot of good things coming out of conflict.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: I always think if I could just accept the fact that my life was supposed to be difficult, that that's what's to be expected, then I might not get so pissed off. And I'd just be glad when something nice happened.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Well, we've all had such competitiveness ingrained in us. You know, I can be doing the most nothing thing, I can be throwing some darts or shooting some pool, then all of a sudden, I feel it come over me. I have got to win.

Céline ?: Why is it you become obsessed with people you don't really like that much?

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Well, I kind of see love as this escape for two people who don't know how to be alone, you know. It's funny. People always talk about how love is this totally unselfish, giving thing. But if you think about it, there's nothing more selfish.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: You know what's the worst thing about somebody breaking up with you? It's when you remember how little you thought about the people you broke up with, and you realize that that is how little they're thinking about you. You'd like to think you're both in pain but really, they're just, "Hey, I'm glad you're gone."

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Everything that's interesting costs a little money.

Céline ?: I like the idea of dancing as a common function in life, something everybody participates in.

Céline ?: I mean, I always feel this pressure of being a strong and independent icon of womanhood, and not making it look like my whole life is revolving around some guy. But loving someone and being loved means so much to me. I always make fun of it and stuff, but isn't everything we do in life a way to be loved a little more?
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: I don't know. Sometimes I dream about being a good father and a good husband, and sometimes it feels really close. But then other times, it seems silly, like it would ruin my whole life. And it's not just a fear of commitment or that I'm incapable of caring or loving because I can. It's just that, if I'm totally honest with myself, I think I'd rather die knowing that I was really good at something, that I had excelled in some way than that I'd just been in a nice, caring relationship.

Céline ?: I believe if there's any kind of God it wouldn't be in any of us, not you or me, but just this little space in between. 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.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Everything is so finite. But don't you think that's what makes our time and specific moments so important?

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Why does everybody think relationships are supposed to last forever anyway?

Céline ?: So often in my life I've been with people and shared beautiful moments, like traveling or staying up all night and watching the sunrise. And I knew those were special moments but something was always wrong. I wished I'd been with someone else. I knew that what I was feeling, exactly what was so important to me, they didn't understand.

Céline ?: Why do we make everything so complicated?

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: I have this recording of Dylan Thomas reading a W. H. Auden poem (As I Walked Out One Evening). He's got a great voice. It's like...
"All the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
O let not Time deceive you
You cannot conquer Time.
...
In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
Tomorrow or today."
Something like that.

Céline ?: When you talked earlier about after a few years, how a couple would begin to hate each other by anticipating their reactions or getting tired of their mannerisms, I think it would be the opposite for me. I think I can really fall in love when I know everything about someone, the way he's gonna part his hair, which shirt he's gonna wear that day, knowing the exact story he'd tell in a given situation. I'm sure that's when I know I'm really in love.

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