Before Sunrise

Why do the most romantic movie scenes happen in awkward situations? We can look at the classic scene from Breakfast at Tiffany’s where Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard embrace in the pouring rain. Not only are the two soaked so that water is literally in their eyes and cascading down their faces but they are also holding a cat between them. For anyone who has never had to deal with a wet cat it is not a pleasant experience, not only are they extraordinarily grumpy and enjoy using claws at this point they also have a very pungent odor. Yet because of the misery of the situation we find it all the more romantic that they are so in love with each other that they want nothing more than to kiss each other. They don’t even care about getting dry, warm, and putting the cat down.

This romantically awkward situation is embodied in the movie Before Sunrise when two complete strangers decide to stick together and enjoy Vienna. There is some crushing between the couple, Jesse and Celine, going on before their escapade, but it was nothing that could truly be called love. How strange and awkward it must feel to suddenly be left alone in a strange city with a strange person next to you. You know nothing about this person, only that they are going to be leaving for a different city the next day. But this situation that most people would never dare to put themselves in makes for a highly romantic escapade. The awkwardness causes them to talk more openly to fill the space that people are afraid to leave empty.

Jesse and Celine have this blazing passion for each other as they find that you can tell someone who knows nothing about you anything, especially when there is such a huge chance that you will never see them again. The other person has no expectations, no previously laid out judgments. Therefore, spending 24 hours with a complete stranger allows them to open up. The setting helped Jesse and Celine open up. The first major fight took place next to the river; it was like they were caught in the current of life. Another setting that was used to open up Jesse and Celine was when they find themselves in the close spaces. At these times they don’t speak as much and the sexual tension was emphasized. Their first kiss was in the box of a Ferris wheel and when they almost had sex they were in the closeness that comes from darkness. Overall, they were put awkward settings, from grave yards to strange ally ways that fueled a love that inspired poets.

Annie Hall

We have a certain ideal before watching a movie that has been deemed a “romance”. We understand that there will be a story line that this movie, Annie Hall, fallows to a large extent. It always has a certain flow: boy meets girl, boy and girl want to have sex, boy and girl eventually have sex, boy and girl realize that the other partner is human, not just a sex machine, and has to deal with that fact. This flow allows for the viewer to sit back and relax no surprises, no sudden scares. Annie hall does break the mold when it allows us a more realistic and cynical view on what goes on in a relationship and inside the minds of the two genders.

Woody Allen did a wonderful job at challenging the perfect romance he went past the fluttering whimsical love that can be seen whenever two old movie stars are resting their cheeks lovingly together (i.e. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman). Woody Allen decided to push the romantic ideal open a little more by having a view that is imperfect and human. His very opening is controversial for the romanticist of its day. In the beginning of a romantic movie one is supposed to watch one of the characters leading a miserable life. Alvy’s life seems miserable because he is always complaining but it is not from the lack of love, it is only from the excess of paranoia. He has a very fulfilling life. He enjoy the company of friends and has a relatively successful career where people somewhat remember his name. This movie also begins with Alvy and Annie arguing, foreshadowing an unfortunate love affair that is going to end badly. The romantic at this point would ask, “Why am I watching a movie just to see a relationship fail”. However, Woody Allen finds that there is more for the audience to gain from seeing the events of a failing relationship than one that ends happily ever after.

A romantic film usually juxtaposes the man and the women as two people who have very little in common, the women has one role while the man performs another. This juxtaposition of the genders in this film does happen but unlike in other films this exceeding difference between the two characters is broken by the fact that their character traits switch. Alvy tended to have a more grownup demeanor and embodies some pride in the beginning of their relationship, holding himself over Annie as the superior. Annie at this point is practically a little girl who can’t even hold her head up in public or talk to boys. This is the typical gender role that is usually seen for the man and the women. She needs narcotics to be able to participate in acts that are too grown up for her persona.

At the end of their relationship Annie is found to be the one holding the reins in the relationship. She is the one in control, with all the pride and sophistication that Alvy now lacks. Even the little things in the movie switch such as the ability to drive (or not drive) a car. On the first day that Annie and Alvy are together Annie is driving in a radical, extremely dangerous manner. On the last day that Annie and Alvy are together Alvy is the one driving and hitting all of the cars around him. A complete switch of the two genders is done and the gender roles are broken.