Review: Before midnight

Words are magical. String them in a single sentence and you can either make or break someone’s day.
Cinema reviewCinema review
Cinema review

Form a paragraph and you could either get that job you applied for, or ruin your chances. Have a thought-provoking and meaningful conversation with someone and you could fall in love. Words are amazing things that shape the world around us. But the most fascinating thing about them is how the most talented and creative people use them.

Richard Linklater brings us his third and final addition to his “Before” trilogy with his latest instalment, Before Midnight.

In 1995, on a train bound for Vienna, a girl and a boy met. Though it was their first conversation and they both knew the train was coming to its station, they started to fall for each other. Courageous and cocky, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) asks Celine (Julie Delpy) to get off the train with him at Vienna.

Luckily she agrees and they spend a night together in pure romantic bliss before parting ways in the morning. Nine years later, they meet again in Paris where the now-married Jesse is doing a book tour for the novel he wrote based on that night.

After another wonderful evening talking about love and relationships, we leave on the ambiguous note of Jesse admitting he’s going to miss his plane back to the US and his wife.

Now we catch up with them another nine years later. Jesse and Celine have not been parted since that fateful day in Paris and on their last day holidaying in Greece, we explore their ideas of marriage, relationships and a real interpretation of love through casual conversation and fiery fights.

The script is just flawless. The dialogue comes so naturally that you could even forget you’re watching a film. You might just be sitting at a table, glancing and eavesdropping innocently at the couple next to you. Or perhaps you’re on the other side of the road to them.

It’s a smooth-feeling film. Linklater shares scriptwriting credits with Hawke and Delpy and it works wonderfully: they embrace the characters, become the characters, they improvise as their characters.

Their physical responses during the dialogue give the film its natural sense. In the heat of that moment, they must come up with some pretty amazing lines.

Apart from adoring the script, my favourite part of this instalment was Celine. Delpy is an absolutely fantastic actress who brings this very special character to life.

Celine is bold and passionate, but at the same time she’s complicated and insecure. She echoes the question “if you could change something about me, what would it be?” from Before Sunrise.

This hits home that it’s the last film of the series and after eighteen years, she is still looking for an answer. She isn’t afraid to push buttons and more women should strive to be as courageous as her.

Everything about this movie is perfect. It’s a perfect sequel, an accurate interpretation of a real relationship and a beautiful love story. If you haven’t seen the prequels Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, its highly recommended that you watch them as soon as possible. Having said that, the beauty of Before Midnight is that it can be seen separately and still be understandable.

The themes it covers (love, relationships, death, etc.) are relevant to everyone and the meaning and comprehension of their discussions are something that can be revisited every few years and still hit you as hard as the first time you watched the trilogy. It really is magnificent.

Out on Friday.

Related topics: