- IMDb page: Before Midnight (2013)
- Rate: 8.1/10 total 1,389 votes
- Genre: Drama
- Release Date: 21 June 2013 (UK)
- Runtime: 108 min
- Filming Location: Kardamili, Greece
- Director: Richard Linklater
- Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick | See full cast and crew
- Original Music By: Graham Reynolds (music composed by)
- Sound Mix: Dolby Digital | Datasat | SDDS
- Plot Keyword: Two Word Title | Sequel | Third Part
Known Trivia
Plot: We meet Jesse and Celine nine years on in Greece. Almost two decades have passed since their first meeting on that train bound for Vienna. | »
Story: We meet Jesse and Celine nine years on in Greece. Almost two decades have passed since their first meeting on that train bound for Vienna.
{tab=Synopsis}
Synopsis: Nine years after the conclusion of Before Sunset, Jesse and Celine live in Paris as a couple, parents to twin girls conceived when they got together. Jesse is also struggling to maintain his relationship with his teenage son Hank, who lives in Chicago with Jesses (now) ex-wife and who, after spending the summer with Jesse and Celine on a Greek island, is being dropped off at the airport to fly home. Jesse has continued to find success as a novelist, while Celine is at a career crossroads, considering a job in government.
Produced By:
- Ethan Hawke known as Jesse
- Julie Delpy known as Celine
- Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick known as Hank
- Ariane Labed known as Anna
- Athina Rachel Tsangari known as Ariadni
- Yota Argyropoulou known as Hotel Clerk
- Xenia Kalogeropoulou known as Natalia
- Walter Lassally known as Patrick
- Jennifer Prior known as Ella
- Panos Koronis known as Stefanos
- Charlotte Prior known as Nina
- Manolis Goussias known as Kid 2
- Yiannis Papadopoulos known as Achilleas
- Enrico Focardi known as Kid 1
- Serafeim Radis known as Hotel Clerk
- Anouk Servera known as Kid 3
- Tety Kalafati known as Air Stewardess (uncredited)
Production Companies:
- Faliro House Productions (presents) (as Faliro House) (a Richard Linklater Film)
- Venture Forth (in association with)
- Castle Rock Entertainment (in association with)
- Detour Filmproduction (as A Detour Filmrproduction)
- Sony Pictures Classics (as A Sony Pictures Classics Release)
- Stuck On On post-production facilities
- New Select (2013) (Japan) (theatrical)
- Sony Pictures Classics (2013) (USA) (theatrical)
- Wild Bunch Benelux (2013) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
- A Contracorriente Films (2013) (Spain) (all media)
MPAA: Rated R for sexual content/nudity and language
Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database
I was lucky enough to get tickets for the one of the Before Midnight-screenings at the Berlin Film Festival this year.
ReplyDeleteBeing a big fan of both Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, I was trulythrilled to see this new (last?) chapter of Jesse and Celine'srelationship.
To sum up the story shortly without spoiling too much, we meet Jesseand Celine 9 years after the events of Sunset. They are now a couplewith a pair of twin daughters, and Jesse is struggling to adapt to therole of being a separated father for his son, Hank, having him flyseveral times back and forth between the United States and France,where Jesse lives with Celine and the daughters. On the last day oftheir vacation in Greece, Jesse and Celine are trying to find the sparkin their relationship again - we are dealing with a couple, like somany others, who in their 'middleage crisis' start asking themselves"where am I in my life, why do I live it this way, and does myhusband/wife still love me?".
For me, the relevance of the film, is its force, along with of coursethe acting and the script, which Hawke and Delpy again have writtentogether with Linklater. Hawke and Delpy are so much into theircharacters and you feel how deep their relationship is established - itfeels very natural and just like watching a couple in the 21st century.We live in a world where couple's separate, find a new partner, getchildren, separates again, find a new partner, get new children again(maybe this is a bit extreme, but something like that). Both thehusband and wife have jobs and their relationships are affected whensuddenly, the only things they are dealing with his who gets thegroceries, who picks up the children from the kindergarten etc., andthe love and romance between one another slowly fades away. That's therelevance to the age we live in now, that is so strong in Midnight.
I can highly recommend fans of the two first movies to see it, and ifyou are not familiar with the movies, you are certainly in for a treat!In my eyes, Midnight works very well for as an end to a trilogy, butthe door is of course a little open for another sequel 9 years in thefuture (2022...?)
Again, the acting is superb (the entire hotel scene is magnificent!),and dialog is so grounded, natural and strong and the film hasrelevance and could inspire a lot of couples struggling with theirrelationship to their partner.
10/10
I just saw Richard Linklater's Before Midnight his newest and thirdfilm about Jesse and Celine the couple who meet as young adults inBefore Sunrise and re-meet as adults in Before Sunset (one of my fivefavorite films).
ReplyDeleteThis is simply brilliant film making: funny, raw, emotionally honestand complicated. The couple (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy who bothco-wrote with Linklater) are now in their 40s and face some very realchallenges to their menage. I started laughing and crying within about3 minutes and both emotions kept up until the very end. Everyone satthrough the credits so they could wipe their faces clean. Brilliantacting . . .
This film gives one hope for the state of American film making andreminds you that Linklater is one of our most underrated auteurs. Isincerely hope he continues and I live long enough to see the couplewell into their senior years.
Even if you have never seen the first two movies, do not miss this one.
I just saw this amazing movie at its Sundance premiere. It's wonderfulon so many levels I don't know where to start. The performances arefantastic. If Julie Delpy doesn't get an Oscar nomination it would be ashame (the only stupider thing the Academy could do is have 10 bestpicture nominations.) Ethan Hawke's performance is brilliant in its ownway, however, it's a less showy part and I'm not certain it'll get therecognition it deserves.
ReplyDeleteThe writing is astounding. Sharp, intelligent, biting, humorous, withstaggering subtext, but most importantly--it feels real. If thescreenplay doesn't get an Oscar nomination it would be a shame (theonly thing stupider the Academy could do is have 15 best picturenominations.)
Rick Linklater is now officially the Jedi master of indie filmmaking(Yoda Soderbergh actually said he's giving up filmmaking.) SLACKERS wasonly 22 years ago, and Linklater has matured into one of the mostoriginal filmic storytellers in the history of the medium. 95% of themovie is two-shots of people talking (the other 5% is people talking ata dinner table and cut aways to the gorgeous Greek landscape.) I don'tknow any other living filmmaker who could pull this off. There's aone-take during a car drive that lasts probably ten minutes (before abrief cut away), however, it goes on for probably another ten minutes(and Linklater said he could have kept the whole take, but needed toshow ruins along the country side and cut away for script purposes, notperformance.) There's a 30 minute scene of the two actors in a hotelroom and I didn't even notice it (by that time I was so invested in thecharacters and their actions and emotions I wasn't even aware of time,it wasn't until the post screening Q&A that Linklater mentioned theactual time of the scene.)
All three, Linklater, Delpy, and Hawke have matured into their rolls(writing, directing, acting) so easily that it's all just great fun forthem and the audience. This is a must see for many reasons (includingthe history of film--there's only one other modern trilogy where thefinal film is the best--LOTR, and their food budget was probably morethan the total cost of BEFORE MIDNIGHT.)
i could go on gushing about this movie ad nauseum, however I'll finishby saying that BEFORE MIDNIGHT is what indie film making (and theSundance Film Festival) is all about--truly original, creative, unique,interesting characters and their stories, told outside the Hollywoodsystem, by people passionate about their craft (and in this case at thetop of their craft).