Before Midnight
July 2013
Richard Linklater’s seemingly impossible (but remarkable) sequel to Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, gets its own sequel in the form of Before Midnight, which results in possibly the greatest romantic trilogy ever filmed.
While the first installment (Before Sunrise) saw American traveller Jesse (Ethan Hawke – his finest role) impulsively strike up a conversation with French beauty Celine (Julie Delpy) before asking her to join him for a night in Vienna where they walked and talked (and walked and talked some more), discovering love until his plane left for home. Ending on a fantastic ambiguous note, which seemed a perfect endnote to (possibly) finding the one true love, Linklater, Delpy and Hawke returned to Europe nine years later for the sequel Before Sunset. It shouldn’t have worked but the sequel was arguably better than the first. Shot in real time, which added to the hyper-realism of the previous indie romantic film, Before Sunset reunited the couple for the first time and showed the spark was still there despite the fact that both had seemingly moved on.
Now, Jesse and Celine are in their 40s. They’ve been together for nine years, are settled in Europe and have twin daughters. But what follows the intense whirlwind romance and reunion? This is what makes Before Midnight so fascinating. In the space of a day in Greece (where the couple are holidaying) we feel the nine years of love, pain and struggles. The third film digs much deeper than the first two, as family, career, ex-lovers and a sense of home are themes that are explored. With the addition of the latest installment, the Before films feel more like a documentary series than a film trilogy. It’s the cinematic version of The Up Series where every few years we drop in on the characters to check on them. With Delpy and Hawke both contributing to the script with director Linklater, it feels more real than a couple of actors merely revisiting old characters and because of that, Before Midnight is incredibly moving and powerful.
Here’s hoping we catch up with Celine and Jesse in 2022.
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