4 stars (out of four)
In 1995’s Before Sunrise,
a young American man named Jesse (Ethan Hawke) meets a young French woman,
Celine (Julie Delpy), on a train. They talk, are caught off guard by the spark
that lights between them and get off the train together, spending the whole
night talking and walking through Vienna. They talk about the Big Things –
life, love, childhood, religion, sex – and, as young lovers do, they fall for
each other.
They agree to meet again one year later but, as revealed in
2004’s Before Sunset, they never do. In
this second film, they bump into each other and stroll around Paris, falling
right back into it. They look back on the years past, reflect on the changes in
their lives and wonder, “What happened?” If Before Sunrise captured the young, romantic idealism of its
characters, Before Sunset found
them grappling with the disappointments of life.
In Before Midnight,
Jesse and Celine (Hawke and Delpy, reprising their roles for a third time) have
taken a considerable amount more control over their happiness, but there remain
things that will forever be outside their control (not the least of which being
each other).
The final scene of the second film, a wonderful scene
brimming with sexual tension, ended on a bit of a
will-they-won’t-they-how-much-will-they cliffhanger, so it would be fair to
call any description of where Jesse and Celine stand at the beginning of Before
Midnight a spoiler. If you feel this way,
skip the next paragraph.
Another nine years have passed since their reunion (for us
and for them), and we catch up with Jesse, who is now divorced and dropping off
his son from that marriage (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) at an airport in Greece. The son is
returning to the States after spending the summer with his father and Celine,
who now live together in Paris with twin girls, though they remain unmarried.
They are vacationing in Greece, staying in the home of a friend.
For the first time in the series, other people join in on
Jesse and Celine’s long, reflective conversations. In one of the centerpieces
of the film, they have dinner with a widow and a widower (Xenia Kalogeropoulou
and Walter Lassally), a married couple (Athina Rachel Tsangari and Panos
Koronis), and a pair of young lovers (Ariane Labed and Yiannis Papadopoulos)
who are about the same age as Jesse and Celine when they first met.
Over dinner, they discuss the difficulties of sustaining a
loving relationship and the complications of sex. Each generation has their own
expectations and experiences that they bring to the table. The conversation is
lively and boisterous, full of kidding and teasing until Natalia, the widow,
who has remained largely silent up until this point, quietly interjects and
does nothing less than explain life.
The first two-thirds of Before Midnight, which includes a stroll through a small village and
expands on themes explored in the earlier films, is on par with its
predecessors in terms of wit and insight. But the scene that follows in a hotel
room takes the movie to a level of greatness that surpasses even those
wonderful films.
The hotel room is intended to be a romantic getaway but soon
becomes the setting for a passionate and furious fight. Jesse and Celine dig
into one another, sometimes cruelly, touching on a range of subjects that includes
careers, fidelity, parenting methods, their sex life and more. A untouched well
of fears, anxiety, jealousy and contempt is released during the feud, which is
also perfectly paced and superbly choreographed by director Richard Linklater.
I hope I’m not making the film sound like a miserable
experience. Really, it is warm and heartfelt; even at the height of Jesse and
Celine’s argument, the movie has the undeniable vitality of life. Has there
ever been a screen romance as complex, honest and absorbing as theirs? The
movie is exciting because it feels so real and so true. Watch during that hotel
room scene how a biting one-liner lands like a sucker punch, as funny as it is
hurtful. Maybe you will be reminded, as I was, of scenes from your own life that
defy any single emotion but are in fact rich with layers of feeling.
The performances of Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy reflect this
complexity. Jesse and Celine are complicated, multidimensional people. They
have changed since the first two movies, and yet, at their core, they have not
changed at all. It is fascinating to consider how these characters have
evolved, and impressive how Linklater, Delpy and Hawke have so authentically
crafted that transformation (the three of them wrote the screenplay together).
With Before Midnight,
Linklater boldly and ambitiously continues a thrilling cinematic experiment
that began eighteen years ago and shows every sign of continuing for another
eighteen. The philosophical and romantic musings of these characters are intellectually
stimulating and emotionally invigorating. To watch these movies is to watch
life unfold before your eyes.
On one hand, I have gone through a great deal of changes in
the last nine years, and yet, on the other hand, I am the exact same person. I
look forward to regrouping with Jesse, Celine and myself in another decade or
so to see where we all are.
- Steve Avigliano, 7/15/13
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