Deep stuff (from Review of my perennial favorite film Before Sunrise)
The books read by Celine and Jesse may have given them a sense of the other’s inner workings. Celine is reading a George Bataille anthology: ‘Madame Edwarda’, ‘Le Mort’ (The Dead Man), ‘Histoire de L’Oeil’ (The Story of the Eye). Jesse has actor Klaus Kinski’s autobiography, “All I Need Is Love’.
Bataille promotes intense experiences and heightened awareness of them (both pleasure and pain); he emphasises the sensations of ‘life’ over rational thought and social order. Kinski’s autobiography is lighter (less intellectual, more populist), but he was famous for conveying intensity on screen and living with passion. Bataille writes about deliberately seeking a life of emotional intensity; so Celine is reading about the principle of a passionate life. Kinski lived passionately; so Jesse is reading about the practice of a passionate life.
Celine is earnest about cultivating relationships, so presumably she is on the look out for someone who matches her outlook.
Jesse tends towards dealing with whatever life brings, but he does have a lively attitude to life (it’s a big party that you have to crash). Their books may be a symbol that they both have a passionate personality.
