Sun sets on brief encounter

Vienna, 1995. Jesse, an American backpacking around Europe, meets a young Parisian, Celine, and spends a magical evening and night with her before catching a cheap flight home. Deciding not to swap phone numbers, they set a rendezvous for exactly six months later, in the same place - destiny will decide if they were meant to be together.

That was in Richard Linklater's third film, the cult hit Before Sunrise. Now, in Before Sunset, which had its world premiere in Berlin yesterday, the director and his two stars and co-writers, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, return to the characters. They have missed the date with destiny, but Jesse, a novelist, is in Paris for a book signing, Celine comes to see him and they meet again for the first time.

Before Sunrise perfectly fulfilled a young director's modest ambitions. Nine years and six more movies down the line, Linklater - currently riding high on School of Rock - is perhaps not quite firing here on all cylinders.

Before Sunset is a much smaller film, with virtually no incidental characters and the dramatic action telescoped from the 15 hours the pair spent in Vienna down to a fleeting 90 minutes.

Back then, their lives stretched out gloriously before them, filled with hope and mystery. Now the mood, inevitably, is more regretful: Celine has given up on the idea of romantic love, while Jesse suffocates in a stale marriage.

But, as in the earlier film, the talk roves widely over all manner of intimate and international affairs. Their chemistry is still bubbling and there is, as one would expect, a new, more affecting emotional depth to the characters and performances.

Linklater's continued benevolence towards them is manifest in a terrific final scene that wraps the piece with a sweet and graceful surprise.

The Berlin International Film Festival runs until 15 February.