Review of Before Midnight (2013) by Phillip M — 01 Nov 2013

Richard Linklater has created a series--the now "Before" trilogy--that seems almost incomprehensible. How someone can take two people having nothing but philosophical ruminations about life and turn that into a critically successful film series, is simply amazing. Surely those characters must prove to be interesting and fleshed-out, with substantial things to say about whatever they have to talk about. And Celine and Jesse are as interesting as ever.

Now, in their forties and far from being carefree, Celine and Jesse's conversations have changed from romantic ideologies of love and relationships (from the first film) to the pitfalls and trappings of commitment--cautions that were explored in Sunset more so than Sunrise, but are fully engaged here in Midnight.

And what conversations are raised! As with the previous instalments, Midnight is a series of vignettes in a day of the life of Celine and Jesse. Within these vignettes we get a sense of the their life, their mentality, ambitions, desires, and needs, but we also see the cynical, the pessimistic side of them as well. It is with the latter that surfaces much more within this third instalment. Without giving too much away (though, I very well may have done just that) this is where the main conflict arises. And what follows is a humourous, yet achingly painful couple hours with Celine and Jesse.

As usual, we get a masterful display of dialogue and the chemistry between the leads has not cooled. And the film's explorations take us into a more sombre direction. So melancholic becomes Before Midnight, that sometimes it turns into an achingly beautiful experience that forces us to accept all facets of life, and of the people whom we love dearly. Whether those facets are things we enjoy and want, or the opposite, Before Midnight tackles both in a natural and honest fashion.

If there is one thing that anyone takes away from Midnight, is that it isn't filled with pretension. Not at all. This is a film that seems more like glimpse into Celine and Jesse's life (as with the previous films). Everything comes off as genuine and relevant, that it would be challenging to find anyone not being able to relate to the ideas and musings the characters have on-screen. Their dialogues often mirror that of our own feelings. It is this connection between the two characters that we have with ourselves. We watch these people who are so in tune with themselves and it leads us to examine our own actions, beliefs and Self. We come to unravel the mystery that is our own consciousness much like Jesse, Celine, and their peers do while we watch them. We are have our own "Before" experiences, they are simply internal dialogues.

That is what I find so beautiful about this film and this series.

10/10.