When Andrew Bertaina first saw the 1995 Ethan Hawke-Julie Delpy film Before Sunrise—swiping the tape from his sister’s bedroom—he was fifteen, painfully shy, and living a sheltered existence in small-town California. The movie cracked something open in him, with its romantic European setting and its charming, intelligent protagonists, who fall in love with each other over the course of a day spent wandering the streets of Vienna. Within the movie’s story seemed to lie a promise: that you could truly be known by another person, that a relationship could be a never-ending conversation with someone who was both interested and interesting.
Fast-forward 25 years, and Andrew’s teenaged romanticism has been challenged by life’s realities, which have included a marriage, a child, a move across the country, a divorce. Meanwhile, the film’s central relationship has also been challenged and complicated by two sequels. When Andrew decides to revisit the first film, with a new partner and a bottle of wine—a rare date night for two single parents—he can’t help but wonder: Will he still see himself in the movie? And, perhaps more importantly, will she?
Publishing May 6, 2025.
ISBN: 979-8-9850089-4-4
When Andrew Bertaina first saw the 1995 Ethan Hawke-Julie Delpy film Before Sunrise—swiping the tape from his sister’s bedroom—he was fifteen, painfully shy, and living a sheltered existence in small-town California. The movie cracked something open in him, with its romantic European setting and its charming, intelligent protagonists, who fall in love with each other over the course of a day spent wandering the streets of Vienna. Within the movie’s story seemed to lie a promise: that you could truly be known by another person, that a relationship could be a never-ending conversation with someone who was both interested and interesting.
Fast-forward 25 years, and Andrew’s teenaged romanticism has been challenged by life’s realities, which have included a marriage, a child, a move across the country, a divorce. Meanwhile, the film’s central relationship has also been challenged and complicated by two sequels. When Andrew decides to revisit the first film, with a new partner and a bottle of wine—a rare date night for two single parents—he can’t help but wonder: Will he still see himself in the movie? And, perhaps more importantly, will she?
Publishing May 6, 2025.
ISBN: 979-8-9850089-4-4
Andrew Bertaina is the author of the essay collection The Body is a Temporary Gathering Place (Autofocus 2024) and the short-story collection One Person Away From You (Moon City Press Award Winner 2021). He lives in the D.C. metro area and is a lecturer in the English department at American University.
