Review of Before Midnight (2013) by Les E — 19 Jun 2014

This trilogy has been easy to write about. In many ways it opens my mind and makes me think, and also shuts me down when thinking about the contradictions of their philosophies with my own.

I feel like writing about love is an easy thing to do, it's always something I have been passionate about, as long as I can remember. This movie and the ones before it had a lot of stuff in common, both good and bad. Every movie talks about how having a soul mate is ridiculous, but it seems to keep coming back to the idea that these two are really soul mates, and it seems very contradictory.

They also continue to mock God in a holy place, I don't know why I have continued to watch this series with the utter disrespect for God from its writers, director and actors.

I suppose the main reason I finished this trilogy, watching one a night, is because of that mystery each person is fascinated by; seeing life through someone else's eyes. We always like looking through that window into someone else's life. That's why books are popular, why reality tv is popular (especially for the least intelligent of people). We always fantasize about other people, or at least find a deep attraction to it. People watching is something we all do naturally. And this movie and the ones before it really captured the essence of real-time emotions and dialogue. I truly do commemorate the filmmakers for creating such a real experience that completely sucked me in, no matter how much I disagreed with. It's almost scary.

One of the things I still don't like is how sexual this movie is. They mention something about this generation being a sexual generation, and it really is disturbing. This film also seems to glorify adultery and divorce like it's the answer to relationships. I don't agree with that at all... The couple continues to have a relationship out of marriage for over 18 years and they praise that mentality.

On another thought, one that I have noticed in each movie, is contradictions. At the beginning of the film, the women discuss how easy it is to predict men, and then it seems like the women don't understand men at all a few hours later. I feel like women are complicated beautiful creations, I feel like almost everything in nature is like that. I don't see why men can't be complicated, especially when Celine doesn't seem to understand anything from Jesse's perspective.

But one thing this movie seems to cover more than the others is the hardships in a relationship. The other two were about lust, this was something else. Parenting isn't easy, being in a committed relationship isn't always easy. However they don't care about commitment with their worldview, where divorce is celebrated, and two people who have been in love for 18 years with children can't even get married. I don't understand it. If they make another film in 9 years, I will be surprised if I watch it... but then again, it was so good at doing what it does, and I will sincerely be interested in this fictional couple enough to care, that I probably will.