Before Midnight (2013)
Added 2025-05-02 12:00:12 +0000 UTCI’ll just be sappy for 5 mins… ah-hem
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Well… 3/3 for ME with this trilogy. 😽
I've rewritten this post 6 times since Monday.
Each of these films in the Before trilogy breaks and heals us in different ways. Before Midnight, though— this one, it lingers. It has echoed in my thoughts and SOUL, like a conversation you/we once have/had or should have had. Watching it doesn't feel like watching a movie. It feels like we are eavesdropping on something achingly real...Two people laying bare everything we’ve ever felt but rarely voiced—except perhaps in our most vulnerable, beautifully raw, and intensely private moments with someone we truly love.
This time, this film didn't really romanticize love—it examined it. It stripped away the idealism of Before Sunrise and the yearning of Before Sunset, landing instead in the messy, complex middle ground of a long-term relationship. UGH! I did NOT expect this! It’s a film about love, but not the fairytale kind, even like the ones that came before this one. It’s about love in the trenches, the ones we fight for, love when we're tired, when it’s tested, when the resentment builds, AND oh this one built! And when the life you once imagined doesn’t align with the life you’re living. It’s about identity, compromise, regret, and the quiet losses that accumulate over time. Plus add in children, divorce, cheating, a even a book written about you!!! .......
Yet, somehow, this film is still incredibly romantic! HOW?! My heart was BREAKING apart! It wasn't this grand, sweeping-away romance like before, but in the courage it takes to stay, talk, and keep trying. Jesse and Celine, now fully formed adults, carry the weight of shared years, children, ambitions, and miscommunications. There’s no big dramatic twist—just a slow, searing realization that love is a choice you make over and over again.
What makes this trilogy so transcendent is that it evolved with its characters. I LOVED the evolution of the characters, movies, and story. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy co-wrote the screenplay with Linklater (which made me so happy to see in the credits), bringing a level of authenticity that feels almost intrusive in its intimacy. The dialogue flows with a lived-in cadence, as if these aren't lines but thoughts unfolding in real time. Their chemistry has only deepened, and every word feels earned. Everyone's words felt like their own and left you wondering how much of it was true from their lived experiences!!!?
We finally get Jesse and Celine together, but it’s not without a cost!! It wasn't the happy ending we might have wanted or expected. It's more truthful than that, which I give mad respect to. This one raises quiet, devastating questions: What do we sacrifice to stay together? Can love survive? What parts of ourselves get lost in the compromises we make?
Celine’s resistance, her guarded stance, might have frustrated me, but maybe it’s because it was too real. Jesse’s tenderness and exasperation walk a fine line between hope and defeat. His unconditional love for her was next level!
“If you want true love, this is it. This is real life. It’s not perfect, but it’s real.”
Is happily ever after just work, work, work, but no one tells you? LOL!
Jesse's attempt at repair with his time travel bit hit me hard! The most romantic time travel pick-up line is one of the all-time best in cinematic history (at least to me). That is movie and storytelling magic. It brings everything full circle, back to that first train ride in Vienna.
This trilogy messes me up in the best way. It makes me feel seen. It reminds me that we’re all struggling with the same questions—of connection, meaning, time, holding on, and letting go. And that maybe, just maybe, we’re all a little less alone than we think.
End scene.
Can't wait to hear your wonderful thoughts! Happy Friday!
Enjoy the movie
xx
ames
Comments
This was my second time watching Before Midnight, and my head is still spinning. What Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy achieved across this trilogy is such a rare cinematic accomplishment, capturing not just the passage of time but the evolving complexities of love, identity, and partnership over decades. I’m so glad you liked the entire trilogy, Ames! ***** SPOILERS BELOW ***** I loved the first part of Before Midnight again, the long takes, the conversations, the lightness. But that hotel scene… it was just as hard to watch this time. Painful, honest, and brutal in its realism. Celine’s outlook feels distinctly French, romantic but skeptical, deeply philosophical, and fiercely protective of her autonomy. Her constant testing of Jesse was difficult to watch, but I know it's part of how she defends herself, even from someone who loves her. I couldn’t help but think of Jenny from Forrest Gump. Once you understand the impact of Jenny’s past, the trauma and abuse, it becomes clear how deeply it shaped her view of herself and her relationships. With both characters, it’s easier to respond with compassion rather than frustration when we see what they’re wrestling with beneath the surface. And Jesse, his time travel monologue was one of the most romantic gestures I’ve seen on screen. Even as Celine pulls away, he reaches out. He’s still choosing her. That hit me hard. Thank you for your incredible write-up and reaction. You’re right that love isn’t just something we fall into, it’s something we commit to, over and over again, even when it’s messy. Perhaps especially then.
John Courtright
2025-05-11 05:57:00 +0000 UTCThanks for the reaction. As you noticed, the 2 + Linklater co-wrote the script. The delivery between the 2 remained natural. That was tough when she said she didn't think she loved him anymore. But seemed ok in the very end. A great movie -- maybe the most real of the trilogy. By the way, I love fresh tomatoes grown in a bucket or in your garden -- eat 'em like apples.
Clay F
2025-05-09 05:27:00 +0000 UTC
