Uch

Just when I think I have finally escaped from it's emotional clutches, she pulls me right back in

I was all set to write about tonight's special screening of "The Motorcycle Diaries" (outstanding; see it this weekend) and my chat with Gael García Bernal and Walter Salles until Uncle Grambo pointed me toward this:

Before Sunset is a sequel to Before Sunrise, which starred Ethan and myself as younger version of the same characters, Jesse and Celine. And of course it was directed by Rick. Everybody calls him Rick, not Richard.

When you first think of what this film is, two people walking around Paris and talking for an hour and a half...it sounds like you want to kill yourself rather than see it. There's no "plot" but there is a plot...it's just an emotional one. It's about an emotional progression between two people, and that's a very hard thing to do. To define the energy between people that makes everything so exciting.

...

I've never been offered sexy-woman parts. I've been with men who've thought of me as sexy. My boyfriend thinks of me as sexy. But until recently, in movies, I've never seen myself as sexy, or wanted to satisfy that male sexpot thing. I was maybe a little scared of that part of me. Somehow today I'm more self assured, and I'm not as scared of my sexuality as I used to. Before it really scared me. I didn't want to be an object.

I auditioned once for Krystoff Kieslowski for The Double Life of Veronique, and he told me to do something sexy, like touch my hair or look sexily into the camera, and I remember I just put my finger in my ear. That was my reaction when that male fantasy of wanting a girl to be sexy for him. So I didn't do Veronique but I was right for White.

...

The reactions to the film exceeded my expectations. I'm a little surprised that people have liked it as much as they have. We had such a fun time doing it, I almost feel guilty that people like it as much as they do. It's not just respect. People are really moved by the film. It really talks to them. People see themselves in it...single people, married people. Life is difficult. Relationships are hard.

Yes, that's Julie Delpy writing her "Sunset Story" exclusively for Hollywood elsewhere. (Be sure to also check out Jeffrey Wells's fascinating mini-interview with Walter Salles.) To see why my sense of contentment has suddenly been replaced by an air of disconsolation, one must only read this and this. What's even worse is that if it wasn't for my bloody afternoon meeting on the westside and the fact that she was running incredibly late, I wouldn't be sleeping alone tonight (or on the internet right now) in the first place. Two cars on a Thursday night always results in two separate final destinations. Fuck. And I didn't even drink enough pinot at dinner to warmly drift me into slumber.