Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset is a walk through Paris in near real time – Jesse and Celine talking their way from a Left Bank bookshop to a courtyard apartment as the afternoon slips away. Every step is real: the film moves through genuine Paris streets in something close to the order you see them.
Where was Before Sunset filmed?
Before Sunset was shot entirely in Paris, mostly on the Left Bank around the 5th and 4th arrondissements. The film follows an almost continuous walk, so its locations connect as a real route through the city.
Every Before Sunset location, explained
Shakespeare and Company – where they meet
The reunion happens at Shakespeare and Company, the famous English-language bookshop on Rue de la Bucherie, across the Seine from Notre-Dame – the film’s starting point and its most iconic location.
The Left Bank cafe and streets
From there the pair wander the 5th arrondissement around the Sorbonne, pausing at a cafe on Rue Casimir-Perier and passing landmarks like the Petit-Pont and Pont Neuf.
The Coulee verte – the elevated walk
Their stroll takes in the Coulee verte Rene-Dumont, the leafy elevated park built on a former railway viaduct in the 12th – a quieter, greener Paris.
Celine’s courtyard – the ending
The film ends in a hidden courtyard, the Cour de l’Etoile d’Or in the 11th arrondissement, standing in for Celine’s apartment building.
Planning a visit
The film is practically a walking tour of the Left Bank. Start at Shakespeare and Company – still a working bookshop and Paris institution – and you can more or less retrace Jesse and Celine’s route through the 5th arrondissement and along the Seine, ending near the Coulee verte in eastern Paris.
