Before Midnight (2013)

I’ve mentioned before my frustration at how underappreciated The Godfather Part III is. My love of that film means that I consider the trilogy to be one of the best if not the best in film history. However, at the very least, it now has competition. Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy is a thing of beauty, in every meaning of the word. I watched Before Sunrise (1996) and Before Sunset (2004) very swiftly in succession, but I left it a while before watching the climax to the trilogy simply because I didn’t want the magic of watching them for the first time to end. Set nine years after the cliffhanger ending of Sunset, Jesse and Celine are now a couple living in Pars, as well as being Father and Mother to twin girls. We join them at a tiny Greek airport; they are in Greece on vacation. To explain why they are at the airport (neither of them are traveling) would be to give away a plot point that knocked me for six, and if you haven’t seen it yet, I urge you to not look up any details of the plot before you do. Celine and Jesse return to their idyllic vacation for the last night, and friends have booked a hotel room for both of them for the night while they look after the twins. They reminisce about their lives and their relationship, discussing what’s to come and what past choices might have led to different outcomes. It’s great just to just be in the presence of these two again, but as someone who has gone through a marriage break up since I saw the last film, a lot of the disagreements and issues hit home; the difference is of course is that this isn’t real; Linklater can choose how this ends either way. At one point Jesse has been pushing the point that he might like to move back to America (I won’t say why) and although he tries to argue the point that Celine and the twins are his priority, and would always put them first, Celine suggests that what he means is “Do this or I will resent you for the rest of our lives.” If that is Jesse’s meaning, it is of course not fair on Celine, even though the reason for moving to America is built on an exceptionally sturdy platform. But it’s about compromise, and what you ultimately want; despite the fact that they’re not married, Jesse and Celine are as committed as any married couple should be, but Before Midnight shows you how difficult that commitment can be, in an exceptionally beautiful yet absorbing and heartfelt way. The location is luscious, complimenting the script and characters to the hilt. Of course the performances are superb, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are well versed in these two characters already; but it really feels like they’re as invested in these characters as we are, and the performances show it. Hawke is used to this sort of aging over time accomplishment from Linklater, he was part of a similar process for Linklater’s Boyhood (2014). The Before Trilogy is Linklater’s crowning achievement for me though, and that’s saying something considering his output. If you haven’t seen any of them, I envy you. 8.9/10