Back in 1995's Before Sunrise, we first meet Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) as they first meet each other and spend the day together in Vienna. Nine years later, Before Sunset showed us Jesse on a European tour of his book - about his day spent with Celine - who tracks him down in Paris, and again we spend the day in their company. Now, yet another nine years later, and Before Midnight gives us yet another day in the lives of Jesse and Celine. Things have developed in the interim, as they're now married with beautiful twin daughters and living in Paris, but we catch up with them towards the end of their summer vacation in Greece.
Their circumstances have changed, but they as people haven't changed all that much. They've become more confident in themselves, but age has not necessarily brought them much in the way of maturity. Jesse is brash and childish, Celine is controlling and prone to playing the martyr, but these are two people you can't help but love watch being in love. As they have long, languid conversations, discussions and arguments about sex, love, marriage, divorce, children, parents, work, death, sexism, feminism, literature and the power of perception, you'll long to be as intelligent and articulate as this couple are on their worst day.
Co-written by Hawke, Delpy and director Richard Linklater, the script is a minefield of hilarious one-liners and poignant, emotional insights. This truly is a movie that will have you laughing out loud one minute and then crying the next. Hawke and Delpy so truly and completely possess these roles that it's difficult to believe that we aren't simply watching a documentary on their lives, and Linklater shoots them and their Greek surroundings with minimal fuss and maximum finesse, allowing their natural beauty to shine through completely.
For the first hour, this is a bona fide five star film, but things dip into cliché during a protracted argument that commandeers the movie's final third. Even then, you're completely caught up in the future of their relationship, not wanting to wait til 2022 for Before Midday.
A gorgeous, emotional movie that lays bare the inevitable roads that love takes us on, Before Midnight is one of the best movies of the year.