Paris · one afternoon · filmed in the summer of 2003
Julie DelpyCéline · photographed 2002
Ethan HawkeJesse · photographed 2007
Richard LinklaterDirector · photographed 2007
Nine years after Vienna, one conversation carries two people across Paris, and it only moves while both of them talk. Start them talking
Thirteen stops · film order
The film runs in real time, written by Linklater with the two people who speak it, and the camera walks with them. Here the walk only moves when the talk changes hands: let one of them speak, then the other, and they go on to the next real street. Give the same one two turns and they stand still.
They are standing in the bookshop. Who speaks first?
Stop 1 of 13
37 rue de la Bûcherie, 75005 Paris
Jesse finishes a talk about his novel, and Céline is there in the shop.
Bookshop Monday to Wednesday 10am–8pm, Thursday to Saturday 10am–9pm, Sunday noon–7pm; the café next door opens daily 9am–7pm. It sometimes closes early for events.
The order of the stops follows the film, as traced street by street by Almost Ginger and Recenzent; the boat runs from Quai de la Tournelle to Quai Henri-IV. The turn-taking is this page’s own way of walking it.
Almost Ginger: Before Sunset locations in Paris, complete list and map (Rebecca, 4 January 2018)Recenzent: Before Sunset filming locations in Paris, complete guide (Maxim Chornyi, 17 May 2020)Wikipedia: Before Sunset
Linklater, Delpy and Hawke wrote the screenplay; the film takes place in real time, shot with Steadicam tracking shots and long takes, mostly in sequence.
Rue de la Bûcherie · the reading
Jesse is on a European tour for his novel This Time. He gives a talk at Shakespeare and Company, three journalists question him, and as he finishes Céline is there.
The national film commission lists the bookshop among the film’s Paris locations.
George Whitman opened the shop on rue de la Bûcherie in 1951. Sylvia Beach, whose own Shakespeare and Company ran from 1919 to 1941 and first published Joyce’s Ulysses, gave it the name.
Bookshop Monday to Wednesday 10am–8pm, Thursday to Saturday 10am–9pm, Sunday noon–7pm; the café next door opens daily 9am–7pm. It sometimes closes early for events.
Rue Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, 75005 Paris
The walk starts in the side street round the corner from the bookshop. Here they find out which of them went back to Vienna.
The street is 67 metres long, from the quai de Montebello to rue Galande, and takes its name from the old way to the church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre. Number 14 was the house of Isaac de Laffemas, a police lieutenant of the 1600s.
A public street round the corner from the bookshop. Square René-Viviani, beside it, is a public garden.
Rue Galande, 75005 Paris
Céline steers them on into rue Galande, a narrow street of shops and cafés.
The street was opened in 1202 on the old clos de Garlande, along a route that goes back to Roman Paris.
A carved Saint Julien from the church, already recorded in 1380, is set into a façade; the Studio Galande cinema has shown The Rocky Horror Picture Show since it came out in 1975.
A narrow public street of shops and cafés, a minute from the bookshop.
Latin Quarter
Not a filming location: a sixteen-room hotel in a 17th-century building at 4 rue Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, on the first street of the walk, across the square from Shakespeare and Company. Many rooms look at Notre-Dame.
Check rooms
Across the river · the 4th
Over the river, they walk up rue des Jardins-Saint-Paul beside a long fence, with the church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis ahead.
The street holds the longest surviving stretch of Philippe Auguste’s city wall, built between 1190 and 1220: about 60 metres long and 7.6 metres high, listed since 1889.
The Tour Montgomery, at the corner of rue Charlemagne, once guarded the Saint-Paul gate; it is now a quarter of its old height.
A public street; the wall faces the pavement along the school sports ground.
Rue Eginhard · 39 metres
A few steps on they turn into rue Eginhard, a detour that brings them out where they would have arrived anyway.
The straight way: along rue Saint-Paul and round the corner.
The lane is 39 metres long and about three metres wide, with one sharp bend. A land register of 1367 already calls it the ruelle Saint-Paul; it has carried the name of Charlemagne’s historian since 1864.
A public lane between rue Saint-Paul and rue Charlemagne. It is quiet and residential: keep your voice down.
Rue Charlemagne, 75004 Paris
At the church, Céline touches Jesse’s arm and turns him right into rue Charlemagne.
The street is 236 metres long. Rabelais died at number 8 in 1553, and Georges Perec shared a flat at number 16 in 1957.
Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, the Jesuit church they walk towards, was built from 1627 to 1641; its 55-metre dome was one of the first in Paris.
A public street running from rue Saint-Paul to rue des Nonnains-d’Hyères.
Rue Saint-Paul, 75004 Paris
The walk ends on rue Saint-Paul, as Céline talks about cheap labour and a world in trouble.
The street is about 280 metres long. The Village Saint-Paul is a set of inner courtyards linked by alleys and reached through four porches; the passage Saint-Paul opens into the church by a side door.
Remains of the old church of Saint-Paul-des-Champs can still be seen at number 32.
A public street. The Village Saint-Paul courtyards open off it through porches; the passage Saint-Paul leads to a side door of the church.
Latin Quarter to Saint-Paul · $12.99
A self-guided audio walk built round the film: 4 km in about an hour from Shakespeare and Company, through Square René-Viviani, the Île Saint-Louis and the Saint-Paul lanes.
See the walkThe 11th and the 12th
14 rue Jean-Macé, 75011 Paris
They sit down for coffee at Le Pure Café, 14 rue Jean-Macé. Jesse bums one of Céline’s cigarettes, and they compare how they have changed.
The national film commission lists Le Pure Café among the film’s locations.
Inside: 1930s lights, mirrors and tiles, and a huge zinc bar.
A working café and bistro near Charonne Métro. Check the day’s hours before you go.
Promenade Plantée, from Avenue Daumesnil, 75012 Paris
Céline leads Jesse up onto the Promenade Plantée, the raised garden walk, and he pulls her down onto a bench.
It opened in 1993 on the old Vincennes railway, closed on 14 December 1969; near the Bastille it runs 10 metres above the street. It was the first old elevated railway in the world turned into a garden.
It runs 4.7 km from the Opéra Bastille to Porte de Montempoivre, over the Viaduc des Arts, and it is free.
Free. Climb the stairs from avenue Daumesnil near the Opéra Bastille; the raised walk runs east over the Viaduc des Arts.
Saint-Paul
Live marketplace results for walking tours of the Marais and the Latin Quarter. Check each itinerary for Saint-Paul and rue Galande.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursQuai de la Tournelle to Quai Henri-IV
The boat carries them past Notre-Dame. On the boat they talk about how Notre-Dame was nearly destroyed once, and that it will not be there for ever; after the 2019 fire, the moment felt foreboding.
As they passed it: the year the film came out.
On 15 April 2019 fire destroyed the cathedral’s wooden spire and most of its roof. It reopened on 7 December 2024.
The cathedral reopened in December 2024. Check the cathedral’s own site for the day’s hours and timed entry; the towers are booked separately.
Quai de la Tournelle, 75005 Paris
On a whim, Jesse takes them onto a tourist boat at Quai de la Tournelle.
The quay is 420 metres long. Bouquinistes’ green boxes line its river side, and La Tour d’Argent restaurant stands at numbers 15–17.
A public quay on the Left Bank, opposite the Île Saint-Louis. Steps lead down to the Port de la Tournelle at the water.
Quai Henri-IV, 75004 Paris
The boat lands at Quai Henri-IV, where Jesse’s car is waiting.
The quay, about 500 metres long, was built in 1843 on the land of the Île Louviers, an island joined to the bank.
A public quay; the Port Henri-IV below it is open to walk along. Sully–Morland Métro is at the end.
Pont Neuf, 75001 Paris
The national film commission includes the Pont-Neuf in the production’s location record.
It is the oldest standing bridge across the Seine in Paris: the first stone was laid on 31 May 1578 and Henri IV opened it in 1607. It is 232 metres long.
It was the first Paris bridge built with no houses on it, and with pavements for people on foot.
Free to cross on foot. Steps from the middle lead down to the Square du Vert-Galant at the tip of the island.
The Seine
Live marketplace results for sightseeing cruises past Notre-Dame and the Île Saint-Louis. None is the boat in the film; check each route for the stretch from the Tournelle to Henri-IV.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare cruises
The last stop · her street
Céline’s home, where the film ends, was filmed at 75 rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine.
The courtyard is the Cour de l’Étoile-d’Or, a private way reached through a passage under number 75 and closed by a porch. Its first house dates from about 1640.
Upstairs she plays him a waltz she wrote on the guitar; he puts on Nina Simone, and she dances, and they both know he is going to miss his flight.
A private residential courtyard behind a closed porch. It is named here and kept off the map; the street is public.
The people
Richard Linklater directed it and wrote the screenplay with Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke; the story credit is shared by Linklater and Kim Krizan. Lee Daniel shot it, much of it on Steadicam. It was filmed entirely in Paris during a very hot summer, mostly in sequence, and it runs in real time. Delpy wrote two of the songs in the film. Its screenplay was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Writers, story credit, cinematographer, Steadicam and long takes, shooting in Paris in fifteen days in a very hot summer, mostly in sequence and in real time, Delpy’s songs, the Berlin premiere on 10 February 2004 and the screenplay nomination.
13 places you can visit, all in Paris. Four quarters, walkable in an afternoon with one Métro ride. Céline’s courtyard is private: named here, not on the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Bookshop Monday to Wednesday 10am–8pm, Thursday to Saturday 10am–9pm, Sunday noon–7pm; the café next door opens daily 9am–7pm. It sometimes closes early for events.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public street round the corner from the bookshop. Square René-Viviani, beside it, is a public garden.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A narrow public street of shops and cafés, a minute from the bookshop.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public quay on the Left Bank, opposite the Île Saint-Louis. Steps lead down to the Port de la Tournelle at the water.
37 rue de la Bûcherie, 75005 Paris
Jesse is on a European tour for his novel This Time. He gives a talk at Shakespeare and Company, three journalists question him, and as he finishes Céline is there.
Bookshop Monday to Wednesday 10am–8pm, Thursday to Saturday 10am–9pm, Sunday noon–7pm; the café next door opens daily 9am–7pm. It sometimes closes early for events.
Rue Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, 75005 Paris
The walk starts in the side street round the corner from the bookshop. Here they find out which of them went back to Vienna.
A public street round the corner from the bookshop. Square René-Viviani, beside it, is a public garden.
Rue Galande, 75005 Paris
Céline steers them on into rue Galande, a narrow street of shops and cafés.
A narrow public street of shops and cafés, a minute from the bookshop.
Quai de la Tournelle, 75005 Paris
On a whim, Jesse takes them onto a tourist boat at Quai de la Tournelle.
A public quay on the Left Bank, opposite the Île Saint-Louis. Steps lead down to the Port de la Tournelle at the water.
Stay
A small hotel on rue Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, across the square from the bookshop.
Latin Quarter
Not a filming location: a sixteen-room hotel in a 17th-century building at 4 rue Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, on the first street of the walk, across the square from Shakespeare and Company. Many rooms look at Notre-Dame.
Check roomsGo there
An audio walk built round the film, and boats and walking tours to compare.
Latin Quarter to Saint-Paul · $12.99
A self-guided audio walk built round the film: 4 km in about an hour from Shakespeare and Company, through Square René-Viviani, the Île Saint-Louis and the Saint-Paul lanes.
See the walkThe Seine
Live marketplace results for sightseeing cruises past Notre-Dame and the Île Saint-Louis. None is the boat in the film; check each route for the stretch from the Tournelle to Henri-IV.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare cruisesSaint-Paul
Live marketplace results for walking tours of the Marais and the Latin Quarter. Check each itinerary for Saint-Paul and rue Galande.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
Readings and signings at Shakespeare and Company this autumn.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
An original poster, both screenplays in one book, and the soundtrack.
An original 2004 poster, 27 × 40 inches, rolled after folding, mint. Sold out: shown for reference.
Sold out · archive reference
View posterThe first film: an original 1995 one-sheet, 27 × 40 inches, rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterRichard Linklater and Kim Krizan; Before Sunset with Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke · Vintage
Both scripts in one paperback, 2005.
Find the bookVarious artists · CD, Milan, 2004
Music from both films, with the songs Julie Delpy wrote for Before Sunset.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
14 of 14 places · 13 of 13 Moments
37 rue de la Bûcherie, 75005 Paris
Jesse finishes a talk about his novel, and Céline is there in the shop.
Rue Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, 75005 Paris
Round the corner, they find out which of them went back to Vienna.
Rue Galande, 75005 Paris
Céline chooses the route into a narrow street of shops and cafés.
Rue des Jardins-Saint-Paul, 75004 Paris
Across the river, they walk beside a long fence towards the church.
Rue Charlemagne, 75004 Paris
Céline turns Jesse into rue Charlemagne with a touch on the arm.
Rue Eginhard, 75004 Paris
They take a short lane with a bend that brings them out where they were going anyway.
Rue Saint-Paul, 75004 Paris
Céline talks about cheap labour and a world in trouble.
14 rue Jean-Macé, 75011 Paris
They sit down for coffee and compare how they have changed.
Promenade Plantée, from Avenue Daumesnil, 75012 Paris
Up on the raised garden, he pulls her down onto a bench.
Quai de la Tournelle, 75005 Paris
Jesse takes them onto a tourist boat on the Seine.
6 Parvis Notre-Dame, 75004 Paris
Passing Notre-Dame, they talk about how it was nearly lost once and will not last for ever.
Quai Henri-IV, 75004 Paris
They step off the boat at Quai Henri-IV, where the car is waiting.
Pont Neuf, 75001 Paris
Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, 75011 Paris
In her flat she plays the waltz she wrote; he puts on Nina Simone.
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