The Before trilogy, a trichotomy of films written and directed by Richard Linklater, follows the romance of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Cèline (Julie Delpy), who meet on a train and spend a night together. The trilogy consists of “Before Sunrise”, “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight”, with the films being separated by the span of 9 years each, as the relationship between these 2 main characters grow.
The success of this franchise is undeniable, but after finishing these 3 films, the reason for their fame and critical acclaim becomes clear, it’s the idealization of the perfect romance.
Before Sunrise:
“Before Sunrise”, arguably the trilogy’s most acclaimed, follows the meeting between the characters of Jesse and Cèline. Together with great scenery and fantastic performances by both Hawke and Delpy, Linklater’s script glides from place to place, topic to topic, and creates an outstanding conversation between the two main characters, which allows them to explain their lives, beliefs and way of thinking, getting to know each other to the point where they fall in love in just one night. Linklater’s story represents something that every romantic that might watch the film desires, which is a simple, nice conversation between 2 interesting people getting to know each other. The perfect meet-cute. This ideal encounter involving 2 characters that are simple enough to grow and mold towards each other is what I believe hooks the audience in, setting up a story that despite having a beginning, middle and end, makes the viewer crave for more.
Before Sunset:
“Before Sunset” begins with Hawke’s character on a book tour in Paris after writing about the experience in a fiction novel. At the book tour, Cèline seeks him out and they spend another afternoon together. “Before Sunset”, staged and filmed very similarly to its predecessor, expands on these characters after 9 years have passed between them, and juxtaposing their youthful naïveté in the first installment, “Before Sunset” explores their struggles of their early thirties. During their conversation, the script of which, incredible from Linklater as always, Jesse and Cèline grow closer, as they discuss their current lives, 9 years after they met, and how they wish their lives had turned out. While not entirely up to chance, the couple reunite and after spending an intoxicating evening together, grow further in love, realizing that no matter what had happened in the past 9 years, all they ever wanted was each other. The audience by this point, despite their flaws, sympathizes, relates, and wishes the best for both Delpy’s and Hawke’s characters, whose arc throughout the film represents the perfect reunion, and the start of what to the audience seems like the perfect relationship.
Before Midnight:
“Before Midnight” is the trilogy’s conclusion, released 18 years after the first one, and naturally follows the events of “Before Sunset”, which show us Cèline and Jesse happily married with twins on vacation in Greece. “Before Midnight” is different to its companions with the fact that it is very different in structure. Whereas the first 2 installments followed the couple walking through Vienna and Paris respectively, “Before Midnight” shows how they interact with each other as well as with their kids and friends. The movie explores Jesse and Celine’s current relationship as a couple with kids, while the others only built towards this moment, and it shows us that they’re humans, capable of fighting, arguing and reconciling. They show us that despite their ups and downs, they are still together and their love is real, and while “Before Midnight”, through its incredible script (as always) and amazing performances, especially by Delpy, goes against what audiences might call the ideal relationship, it expresses that Jesse and Celine’s story is what many would call, a perfect romance
Conclusion:
Despite being a story 18 years in the making, the Before Trilogy seems to have not dipped in quality in any way, beginning a saga between 2 characters that audiences, myself included, end up loving and relating to, through dialogue that immerses you into this conversation between what are essentially strangers. These 3 films find a way to attract audiences by presenting a seemingly perfect love story but that does not shy away from showing the natural cracks that an 18 year old relationship is inevitably supposed to have. It’s happy ending is bitter-sweet, but makes you feel whole in a way franchises and trilogies rarely do, and that is great praise to give a filmmaker.
The Before Trilogy: 95/100
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