When Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, and Julie Delpy released the exhilarating, romantic comedy Before Sunrise in 1995, no one would've guessed they'd have themselves a series. The movie, a delightful tale of an impromptu romantic night between a young man and woman who meet on a train bound for Vienna, puts to shame many of Hollywood's output in the genre because the characters, the situation, and the dialogue felt entirely natural and realistic. But after 2004's Before Sunset, where those same characters, Jesse (Hawke), and Celine (Delpy), reconnect nine years later after failing to meet up as promised all those years ago, it became clear that these filmmakers had a grander scheme in mind.
Now, as we catch up with Jesse and Celine at age 41, the intent of this series becomes clear: the Before movies are designed to show three distinct stages of love. Before Sunrise was breezy in all the right ways. Before Sunset showed the joy of a re-connection while tinged with more than a little regret. But here, as many can attest, a relationship after nine years isn't anywhere near as giddy or spontaneous as those earlier times. That's not to say that the pleasure is all gone. Far from it, but a relationship at this stage requires far more work and confrontation of emotional pain. This fact leaps into the foreground during the final 25-30 minutes of Before Midnight, which depicts an intense, back-and-forth crossfire between Jesse and Celine within the confines of a hotel room. Before this point, the movie offers the same sort of witty, verbose, and insightful conversational pieces that made the previous two movies so enjoyable. But make no mistake, the endgame is what everyone who sees this movie will be talking about.
As veterans of this series know, plot is minimal, and we wouldn't have it any other way. Before Midnight opens with Jesse saying goodbye to his estranged son, Hank, after having the now-teenage boy spend a summer with him in Greece. As the ending of Before Sunset hinted at, Jesse has not only given up his married life in Chicago to be with Celine a world away, but the couple is raising twin girls. After a dinner outing with friends, Jesse and Celine engage in nearly an hour of walking and talking, which we've seen before. However, there's a world-weariness at work in their dialogue, and once they reach a hotel provided for them, it's only a matter of time before all the complications of their relationship are laid bare.
Paradoxically, that sequence reveals Before Midnight's greatest strengths as well as its few weaknesses. On the one hand, this is an intense, tour-de-force of emotional discomfort. What begins as an easygoing, relaxed atmosphere, with the couple about to have sex, quickly turns ugly when the smallest of actions riles up both parties and brings out every stinging criticism, whether legitimate or petty. It goes on for a long time, shows a natural ebb-and-flow, and creates real tension about how long these two will remain together, but therein lies a key question for viewers. How will audiences, even art-house audiences, feel about watching a couple fight for 20 uninterrupted minutes? Could Linklater have made his point in 12 minutes as opposed to 20?
But do not fear. In spite of the climax and semi-resolution (once again, Linklater delivers an appropriately ambiguous ending), this is not a depressing experience. The dinner scene is an absolute delight; it might seem boring to spend 20-odd minutes listening to various characters tell stories and share ideas, but Linklater knows how to pace this material. Many of the movie's biggest laughs come from here as well (my favorite: a story about a woman's first reaction upon hearing she has just woken up from a coma versus that of a man's). The "walking and talking" portion of the film is equally as breezy. And yes, since this is the first Before movie to take place in the social media era, you can bet the mortgage that will also feature as a lively point of discussion.
40 may not be particularly "old" in real life, but many understand that it might as well be 80 in Hollywood Actress Years. So it comes as something of a surprise that Hawke appears more weathered and worn than Delpy. She's clearly aged, but she's still very attractive, and performance-wise, Celine fits like a glove. Jesse, on the other hand, appears to have taken more uppercuts from Father Time. The stress of having a son living his Golden Years without a father figure certainly plays a part. Who will viewers identify more with? Jesse seems to be the better written character (but maybe that's just my "guy" perspective), although an argument can certainly be made for Celine, with the classic challenge of balancing career and motherhood, as well.
I enjoy plenty of Hollywood's blockbuster sequels, but rarely do any of them attempt anything daring and new with their characters. For Before Midnight, as is the case with many independent films, risk-taking is a mantra, even when it doesn't work 100% of the time. I deeply appreciate the flimmakers' insight into how relationships grow and change over long periods. That's hardly a surprising concept, but it's one that precious few movies acknowledge for even a second. What began as a sweeping, heartfelt romance in 1995 has evolved, much like life, into a different beast, and there's no going back.
Will there be another entry in this series nine years later, peering into the characters (and by extent, the actors, since they're of similar age) lives again at age 50? Would it head down a path of depression or redemption? I hope for the latter, since growing old is by no means the end of all things pleasurable.
Rating: ***1/2 out of ****
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