By Eloise Hendy
When I first visited Paris, it was for a trip to Disneyland. I was just 10 years old and had a fear of heights, so I avoided the roller coasters. My memories of that trip are limited to eating Cheestrings on the Eurostar, riding the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction multiple times, and savoring hot chocolate at the base of the Eiffel Tower while waiting for my mom and brother to finish their climb.
Paris has always captivated me, especially because my memories of the city are fragmented from my childhood. In my adult mind, Paris exists more as a myth than a reality. It’s a city associated with love, poetry, fashion, bohemianism, Serge Gainsbourg, and pastries. My perception of Paris is shaped by layers of fantasy, which make it all the more romantic and enchanting. However, I have yet to truly know the city and experience it firsthand.
Ironically, the Parisian apartment that I find most intriguing breaks this fantasy and represents reality. Celine’s flat in Richard Linklater’s 2004 film “Before Sunset” only appears for eight minutes, but its significance is immense. Until this moment, the film plays out like an echo of their first encounter. Jesse and Celine, portrayed by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, reunite after nine years and once again face the pressure of limited time together. In the original film, it was Celine’s train back to Paris, and now it’s Jesse’s flight home to New York.
This time, it’s Paris rather than Vienna that serves as the backdrop for their story. They stroll through the captivating European city, engaging in conversation along the way. However, everything changes when they enter Celine’s apartment. They climb a dilapidated staircase to the top floor, and for the first time in the film, they fall silent. It’s the first intimate and private space they enter throughout their journey. As Celine opens the front door, there’s an undeniable sense that this is a destination, not just a place to pass by.
The apartment is cluttered and vibrant, exuding a shabby yet self-contained charm. It features a kitchen, office, dining area, living room, bedroom, and painting studio all at once. Books pile up, paintings adorn the walls, and postcards and photographs are haphazardly displayed. The space is filled with an abundance of lamps, ornaments, and colorful throws.
Aside from the music system and television set that scream 2000s, this bohemian Parisian garret epitomizes the living spaces young artists and writers have inhabited for centuries. It’s eccentric, creative, sensual, warm, and a bit messy. Looking at it evokes a desire to smoke countless cigarettes, indulge in numerous cups of coffee, write terrible poems, stain lips with red wine, and embrace being a cliché.
However, beyond its artistic charm, the apartment’s true appeal lies in how it represents the end of romantic intrigue and the beginning of something deeper, richer, and more complex. When I first watched “Before Sunset” in my early twenties, around the same age as the characters in the film, I found it disappointing. It was the era of the “manic pixie dream girl,” a stock character meant to serve as a whimsical counterpart to a brooding male protagonist. Based on Celine’s apartment and her eccentricities, I categorized her as one of these fantasy women, existing solely to introduce Jesse to life’s mysteries and adventures.
However, upon watching the film again as I approached the characters’ age in the sequel, I realized I had been mistaken. While we see Celine’s apartment through Jesse’s eyes, symbolizing everything he believes his married life lacks—freedom, adventure, and pleasure—I understood that this was also the moment when Celine ceased to be Jesse’s fantasy and became a fully real person. Sitting on her quirky futon, looking at her childhood photos, browsing through her CDs, Jesse finally discovers who Celine truly is. And isn’t that the most fervent fantasy of all? To invite someone in, reveal the intimate and cluttered parts of oneself, and be truly known?
Photography: Warner Independent Pictures
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