Feelings of regret, remorse, and guilt dominate Before Midnight, the third film in Richard Linklater's "Before" trilogy. The film takes place in Paris eighteen years after Jesse (Ethan Hawke), a then young American aspiring writer first meets Celine (Julie Delpy), a French graduate student on her way to Paris from Vienna. In Before Midnight, now approaching middle age, Jesse and Celine are a couple living in Paris and have settled into what appears to be a long-term relationship. Though not married, they have twin daughters, Ella and Nina (Jennifer and Charlotte Prior). As the film opens, Jesse is saying goodbye at the airport to his son Hank (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick), who is returning home to Chicago where he lives with his mother, Jesse's ex-wife.
At the airport, Hank tells his dad that it was the best summer of his life which only makes their parting more difficult. Jesse wants to be closer to Hank but his ex-wife will not permit it and he discusses with Celine the possibility of her giving up her job as an environmental advocate and moving to Chicago, a topic that carries with it a great deal of baggage and is a bone of contention during the course of the film. As in the first two films, the third consists mostly of extended rapid-fire conversations between Jesse and Celine as well as with Jesse's literary friends with whom they are spending six weeks at a writer's workshop in Greece.
At an outdoor luncheon at 85-year-old Patrick's (Walter Lassally) villa, talk centers on a wide range of subjects such as whether books are still viable in the modern age of computers, how different age groups relate to love and romance, and other relevant topics that sound "deep." To make sure we know that the film is "edgy," Linklater sprinkles the dialogue with cutesy references to sex, orgasm, and genitalia that feels as if one has wandered into a high school cafeteria rather than a gathering of artists and intellectuals. As Jesse and Celine walk back to the luxury hotel that their friends have given them as a gift for the night, tension surfaces and they begin to tease each other and question each other's commitment.
When they arrive at the hotel, the good feelings of the afternoon have dissipated into bickering about who is at fault for everything that is wrong with their lives. Dangerously close to gender stereotyping, Jesse is depicted as the strong and calm one while Celine is shown as borderline hysterical. Talking at each other rather than to each other, Jesse again tells Celine about his regret at not being closer to his son and thinks about how he could fix the problem, but never acknowledges that it was his choice to leave his family. Celine shouts about how he abandoned her when the girls were born and calls him passive-aggressive to which Jesse responds by telling her she is "a crazy woman." After Celine complains about how her creativity has been stifled because of the lack of time she has to do anything other than to be a housewife, the quarreling deteriorates into a tug of war to the point where Celine walks out of the room.
Before Midnight restates the conventional wisdom about the spark in relationships inevitably fading with the years but the result feels more like an artistic concept than an organic experience with the characters having sacrificed their reality to the formula. Some critics have said that the no-holds-barred outbursts in the film are examples of adult behavior and are "proof that the couple has finally achieved a true intimacy."
To me, however,though well-done and engaging, Before Midnight is a primer on what does not work in a relationship. A relationship should not be a power struggle but a partnership based on mutual support in which the partners truly listen to each other without always having to be right. Contrary to the film's message, love does not have to die in order to be reborn, but can be created newly each day. That does not mean that all problems magically disappear, but only that you are willing to include any condition or any circumstance of the relationship as part of your experience of love. Here's looking at the next sunrise.
At the airport, Hank tells his dad that it was the best summer of his life which only makes their parting more difficult. Jesse wants to be closer to Hank but his ex-wife will not permit it and he discusses with Celine the possibility of her giving up her job as an environmental advocate and moving to Chicago, a topic that carries with it a great deal of baggage and is a bone of contention during the course of the film. As in the first two films, the third consists mostly of extended rapid-fire conversations between Jesse and Celine as well as with Jesse's literary friends with whom they are spending six weeks at a writer's workshop in Greece.
At an outdoor luncheon at 85-year-old Patrick's (Walter Lassally) villa, talk centers on a wide range of subjects such as whether books are still viable in the modern age of computers, how different age groups relate to love and romance, and other relevant topics that sound "deep." To make sure we know that the film is "edgy," Linklater sprinkles the dialogue with cutesy references to sex, orgasm, and genitalia that feels as if one has wandered into a high school cafeteria rather than a gathering of artists and intellectuals. As Jesse and Celine walk back to the luxury hotel that their friends have given them as a gift for the night, tension surfaces and they begin to tease each other and question each other's commitment.
When they arrive at the hotel, the good feelings of the afternoon have dissipated into bickering about who is at fault for everything that is wrong with their lives. Dangerously close to gender stereotyping, Jesse is depicted as the strong and calm one while Celine is shown as borderline hysterical. Talking at each other rather than to each other, Jesse again tells Celine about his regret at not being closer to his son and thinks about how he could fix the problem, but never acknowledges that it was his choice to leave his family. Celine shouts about how he abandoned her when the girls were born and calls him passive-aggressive to which Jesse responds by telling her she is "a crazy woman." After Celine complains about how her creativity has been stifled because of the lack of time she has to do anything other than to be a housewife, the quarreling deteriorates into a tug of war to the point where Celine walks out of the room.
Before Midnight restates the conventional wisdom about the spark in relationships inevitably fading with the years but the result feels more like an artistic concept than an organic experience with the characters having sacrificed their reality to the formula. Some critics have said that the no-holds-barred outbursts in the film are examples of adult behavior and are "proof that the couple has finally achieved a true intimacy."
To me, however,though well-done and engaging, Before Midnight is a primer on what does not work in a relationship. A relationship should not be a power struggle but a partnership based on mutual support in which the partners truly listen to each other without always having to be right. Contrary to the film's message, love does not have to die in order to be reborn, but can be created newly each day. That does not mean that all problems magically disappear, but only that you are willing to include any condition or any circumstance of the relationship as part of your experience of love. Here's looking at the next sunrise.