Lizzy's Film Reviews

1995年出品的「愛在黎明破曉時」(Before Sunrise)是我非常喜歡的愛情電影，但它跟傳統浪漫喜劇不太一樣，嚴格說來它沒有什麼劇情，電影內容簡單講就是二十歲出頭的主角兩人走過城市、不斷對話罷了，但在這些瑣碎的經歷與交談中，有一種細膩的描述與感動，讓人想起愛情開始那一刻的許多細節，種種肢體動作與眼神，以及細微的情緒，極為動人。



先簡單說一下劇情：美國男子Jesse﹝伊森霍克﹞在歐洲一班由布達佩斯開往巴黎的火車上，認識一名法國女子Celine﹝茱莉蝶兒﹞，兩人聊得很投緣。第二天將由維也納飛回美國的Jesse，說服Celine跟他在維也納下車，陪他度過返美前在歐洲的最後十幾小時。



雖然故事結構很簡單，但導演Richard Linklater利用整個環境﹝例如景點與遇到的人物﹞，帶出男女主角的個性與思想，所以即使我們對主角的背景不甚了解，但從他們滔滔不絕的對話中，感覺跟他們很熟悉，就像劇中兩人一樣，他們原本不認識對方，但經過半天相處，也能感覺很投緣、很認識對方，甚至感到愛上對方。而他們精采的交談過程，更是讓「愛在黎明破曉時」極為突出的主因，重點不只是對話帶出的主角性格，還包括在那些對話背後的欣喜或尷尬或渴望，各種情緒是如此自然、兩位演員是如此認真聆聽彼此、話題天南地北自然移轉，那種真實感會令你覺得整部片是他們即興演出，或甚至是用隱藏式攝影機偷偷錄下的。



有幾幕戲更是把愛情發生那刻的美麗心動感覺，拍得令人揪心至極、難以忘懷，例如兩人在公車上，Jesse忍不住想輕撫Celine的秀髮，無奈此時Celine一回頭，Jesse趕忙把手縮了回來；或是兩人在唱片行試聽間聽音樂，一分多鐘的鏡頭表現出愛情萌芽時的試探、尷尬與緊張，感覺像過了一小時，連身為觀眾的我，都為他們的尷尬感到坐立難安，這就是曖昧啊；當兩人要道別時，個性上比較憤世嫉俗、照理說應該不會相信兩人能有結果的Jesse，聽到Celine約說五年後同地點相見時，竟然因為五年實在太長而慌了，這種真情流露的小細節，也是讓「愛在黎明破曉時」從一部普通的愛情電影，晉升成為經典的關鍵。而劇情如此簡單的結構，原本很可能因為缺乏驅動劇情往前的安排，令人感到無趣，但本片卻因主角心中對「今晚過後到底會不會／該不該再度相見」的舉棋不定，產生了很大的張力與壓迫感，我們也像Jesse與Celine一樣，根據這他們的相處與對話，不斷思考他們該不該為這段剛萌芽的愛情奮力一搏，到了他們道別之時，那種急迫感終於令主角拋開現實的考量，推翻之前說過的話，相約半年後再見，這是全然的浪漫，不管之後他們能否終成眷屬，至少在那個當下的濃烈情感，都是令人永生難忘的。





而在片尾，導演拍攝了一些Jesse與Celine之前待過地方的畫面，更是突顯了人的經歷如何改變我們對某個景致的感覺，當我們看著那些地方，雖然主角兩人已不見蹤影，但心中想到的盡是先前那神奇的時光，我們不再用看風景明信片的態度來看待這些風景了，而是用回憶，創造出自己的畫面版本。這就是為何有些人在失戀、離婚、喪偶等等之後，必須離開有共同回憶的傷心地一陣子來療傷吧。
「愛在黎明破曉時」就是用這些細膩的手法，把一段愛情的萌芽拍成一部極為美麗的電影，值得品味再三。特別是有多年穩定感情對象的人，更適合看這部，在多年來柴米油鹽漸漸淹沒生活的過程中，它或許能幫助你回想枕邊人當年某些吸引你的特質，某個動人的神態或肢體語言，重溫往日初衷，也許會讓你更珍惜一切呢。





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經典對白：
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Jesse: I don't know, I think that if I could just accept the fact that my life is supposed to be difficult. You know, that's what to be expected, then I might not get so pissed-off about it and I'll just be glad when something nice happens.

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Jesse: Why is it, that a dog, sleeping in the sun, is so beautiful, y'know, it is, it's beautiful, but a guy, standing at a bank machine, trying to take some money out, looks like a complete moron?

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Jesse: Alright, alright. Think of it like this: jump ahead, ten, twenty years, okay, and you're married. Only your marriage doesn't have that same energy that it used to have, y'know. 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 picked up with one of them, right? Well, I'm one of those guys. That's me y'know, so think of this as time travel, from then, to now, to find out what you're missing out on. See, what this really could be is a gigantic favor to both you and your future husband to find out that you're not missing out on anything. I'm just as big a loser as he is, totally unmotivated, totally boring, and, uh, you made the right choice, and you're really happy.

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Celine: Did your parents divorce?
Jesse: Yeah. Finally. They should have done it a lot sooner, but they stuck together for a while for the "well-being of my sister and I", thank you very much. I remember my mother once. She 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 really pissed off when he found out that she was pregnant with me, you know, that I was this big mistake. And I think that really shaped the way I think. I always saw the world as this place where I really wasn't meant to be.
Celine: That's so sad.
Jesse: No, I mean, I eventually kind of took pride in it. You know, like my life was my own doing, or something. You know, like I was crashing 'The Big Party'.

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Jesse: I mean, just once, I'd love to see, some little old lady save up all her money, to go to the fortune teller, and she'd get there, all excited about hearing her future, and the woman would say, "Um-humm. Tomorrow, and all your remaining days will be exactly like today. A tedious collection of hours. And you will have no new passions, and no new thoughts and no new travels, and when you die, you'll be completely forgotten.

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Celine: I like to feel his eyes on me when I look away.

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(Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures)