Before Midnight takes place nine years after the events of Before Sunset. We find Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) unmarried, but officially together as they vacation in Greece with their eight-year-old twin daughters. Jesse, a novelist with three books under his belt now, has just sent Hank, his young teenage son from his previous marriage, home to Chicago, and he begins to realize the regrets he harbors of not being there during Hank’s formative years.

Celine is contemplating a job with the government, a decision she feels extremely conflicted about, despite Jesse’s attempts to support whichever choice she makes. She is also afraid that Jesse will want to move them to Chicago to be closer to his son, and if she refuses, he will resent her. Jesse denies this, of course, but this fear hovers over the couple for the remainder of the film.

What made Before Sunrise and Before Sunset so riveting was that Hawke and Delpy carried both movies solely on their shoulders. It was their natural, revealing conversations that fueled the films. For the first part of Before Midnight, Celine and Jesse are surrounded by a handful of friends they have gotten to know pretty well over the past six weeks.

I was wary of Before Midnight’s change in direction, but the added characters felt necessary to show precisely where Celine and Jesse were in their relationship compared to the others and how their views of the past might have changed over the years. They share one last dinner with these people, during which their conversations touch on love and loss. Here, you can see cracks in Jesse and Celine’s relationship, with resentment expressed through jokes or teasing when they are around others.

As it’s their last night in Greece, these new friends have booked a hotel room for Celine and Jesse in town so they can spend a night alone without their daughters. It’s a lovely walk from the villa into town, bringing Celine and Jesse away from the company and buffer of the others.

Once again, we’re with the couple on their own. But whereas in the first two films we wondered if they would get together, we now question whether they’ll stay together. The light flirtation and affection are still there, but there is also irritability and frustration. They question their choices and the consequences that follow. It’s so easy to fall in love, but Jesse and Celine are learning how hard it is to stay there.

As soon as they reach the hotel, one thing leads to another, and for the next thirty minutes or so, we’re witnesses to an intense argument, with harsh words and accusations hurled around the room. The brutal honesty is uncomfortable. Watching these two people find each other and fall in love across the two movies makes it extremely difficult to watch it all unravel here, but Delpy and Hawke deliver emotionally nuanced, mesmerizing performances that you can’t look away from.

Gone is the romantic fantasy that Jesse wrote about in two of his books. Instead, we’re treated to reality, where nothing is perfect and not everyone has a happy ending. Yet Linklater keeps the movie as heartfelt as the first two because you know how important communication is between Jesse and Celine. Their relationship was built on it, and it’s clearly been a while since they had an honest conversation. As long as they keep talking, you feel there is hope for these two to stay together, and the romantic spark is not entirely gone.

Despite how badly I wanted a continuation of Celine and Jesse’s story after Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, I feel like Before Midnight is the perfect ending to their saga and this trilogy. All three movies are so close to perfection that I fear anything more might be too much. And really, I want to cling to the bit of optimism this film gave me and believe that Jesse and Celine did get their happy ending.

Watched: 03/25/2019
Notable Song: Before Midnight by Graham Reynolds