Directed by:
Richard LinklaterCinematography:
Christos VoudourisComposer:
Graham ReynoldsCast:
Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Panos Koronis, Ariane Labed, Walter Lassally, John Sloss, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Xenia Kalogeropoulou (more)VOD (1)
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In Before Midnight, we meet Celine and Jesse 9 years on. Almost 2 decades have passed since that first meeting on a train bound for Vienna, and we now find them in their early 40's in Greece. Before the clock strikes midnight, we will again become part of their story. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (10)
Life has consequences; that's just how it is, and we can't do much about it. We see this clearly with this amazing couple, whom we've encountered for the third time. Jesse and Céline are married, which is a pleasant revelation, but the romance that was present in their first and even second meetings has gradually faded from their shared life. They're used to each other, they have their problems. That's just life. Nonetheless, you still enjoy watching them and listening to what they have to say, because this is the most beautiful aspect of all three films. Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke just click, whether they're in love or a bit jaded with life. They’re such a perfect couple that one wonders why it isn't true in real life. Will we see a fourth installment in nine years?
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Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke’s romance hit my life out of the blue. I actually entered the story at a moment when they met for the second time, supposedly by coincidence and again in Paris. Yes, I didn’t have the honor of watching their first meeting after I saw this one. On the other hand, I believe that I got quite far when it comes to intimate discussions and I managed to catch a lot from the things that happen in the movie. Unfortunately, I simply can’t give it more than four stars. I think that maybe a woman would appreciate this part more than a man. Whatever is a victory for the lady in this movie is a challenge for the man. And I’m talking about relationships. And in this one, Julie does it several times. The opening part of the movie seems like pure bliss, especially that endless scene in the car. Then you get another great scene at the Greek lunch and in the end it’s all ruined by the night at the hotel. I don’t know why and I don’t want to be a male feminist, but it’s always the guy who’s at fault. Why is that? Anyways, Greece doesn’t get any sexier than it is in this movie. I’m really glad that even a couple of Americans, or rather the authors of this movie understood that Europe can be pretty amazing.
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Another incredibly mature work. Fantastically oscillating between melancholy, romance, drama, and exaggeration. Flawless acting and the several minutes-long shots, concentrating all the film energy on the two protagonists are a stroke of brilliance. A generational change within the theme, but the quality is absolutely unchanged. This is life.
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To my own surprise, after the scene in the car I stopped watching where the actors were reading their dialogue from, which I suddenly started to have a tendency to enter. Linklater's concept of relationship wrought into resigned feminist dogma (I chuckled maliciously at the scene where the women prepare dinner while the men sit and talk about literature, i.e. the scene the protagonist later leans into) works with the premise of accepting fictional identities that suppress the real identities already mapped and scorned by their counterparts. And I'd like to keep watching that final spark that jumped between the chrononaut and the naive literature student. Even though neither of them exist.
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At the beginning, I will try to uselessly separate the individual parts from each other. Before Sunrise was a beautifully naive romantic comedy about two young people full of ideals who accidentally burned (went crazy). Before Sunset is the story of two mature adults who went somewhere, but memories draw them to something they maybe should have done (but didn't). Before Midnight is the story two people who changed their lives for a memory and did what they promised never to do at the beginning. As a result, the third film is necessarily the most open, most intimate (there are few secrets and room to pretend to “be someone else"), the most painful (many of the themes that were the subject of jokes in previous cessations return, but now it is a lot worse to laugh at them), and also the most markedly sarcastic to cynical. It's a conversational analysis of everyday routine that reveals the remnants of the "intellectual sex appeal" that Jesse and Celine felt, but above all it is a civilian dive into banality, fatigue and fear of being alone. Before Midnight is full of irony, both internal and contextual (the casting of the non-conformist observer of the disintegration of the traditional Athina family, Rachel Tsangari, in the role of a cheeky Greek woman), contains probably the best dialogue in the trilogy (car scene), and it is largely lacking the paper rustle of its predecessor. Smoothness bordering on routine (but the most interesting), the kitschy environment of the Greek idyll constantly clashed with minor conflicts, fears and suspicions that at the end of Before Midnight there will be no place for a dream and romantic dreaminess. Nevertheless, the final scene is fragile and playful, full of contrasts of hope, resignation and humor, which develops the relationship of one of the most remarkable film pairs, both poetically and relentlessly sober. Linklater's minimalist direction once again triumphs and relies on organically flowing time, sometimes divided by the caesuras of sadness / enchantment. The script is even more polished, pointed and full of sharp wit - although in a few scenes there is again hesitation as to whether the little pearl at the bottom is worth the big a pile of words. I don't want to share it with anyone, but if I have to, then Before Midnight is closest to me emotionally and mentally. So, Jesse and Celine, later... in the next decade.
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