Before Midnight

In the final part of the trilogy, Linklater and I really clicked. His characters have finally grown up and, despite their flaws, they are now able to behave as mature parents and partners. It is no longer so self-centered because their children, acquaintances, and friends complement the married couple. In terms of age, worries, and emotions, I feel close to them and I understand their problems and behavior. I would say that Linklater has matured as a filmmaker during the long breaks between films. Overall impression: 80%. (18/07/2018)

Fairytale realism, where he represents the almost fantasy romantic element and she represents rational life, full of fear and uncertainty. All three of Linklater’s pictures are as deep as humanity itself, in this case our three screenwriters (director and main roles) quite chillingly reflect on the cruel truths of life. The dialogs are sincere, well-thought out and there is such a build-up during last third that you start to get scared. You’re scared because you know how it might turn out. And after everything you have seen, you don’t want that. After all these years that you know these people you want to enter the story, take a time machine and go back and tell them to stop it. To look back and think. Life isn’t perfect, but it’s up to us to make the best of it. (25/07/2013)

Anyone who has ever loved knows these fears. The fear of loneliness and at the same time fear of the weight of past decisions, of the power of chance and the relativity of time. Because romantic encounters are beautiful and spontaneous and magnificent, heart-rending reunions are unforgettable. But love years later is something that cannot be left to chance. Richard Linklater has resurfaced with a film that had countless opportunities to fail, to fail to live up to its predecessors, and to dilute the magic of what seemed definitive. And just like in Paris, I was blinded with tears by being able to pick up nine years later, in the same place. Some things in life may wither sooner or later and some things unfortunately intensify. And despite the fact that Before Midnight tears the heart in the most intimate and treacherous way, these two talkative travelers are once again at full strength. Their eighteen-year odyssey has no equal in the genre of romantic drama. And my sixth sense tells me that the year 2022 might bring us something good again. (18/07/2013)

Life has consequences, that's just the way it is and we can't do much about it. We see this clearly in this amazing couple, whom we have met for the third time. Jesse and Céline are married, which is a pleasant realization, but gradually the romance that was associated with their first and even second meeting has disappeared from their shared life. They are used to each other, they have their problems. That's just life. Nevertheless, it's still enjoyable to watch and listen to the two of them because this is the most beautiful aspect in all three movies. Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke simply fit together, whether they are in love or a little frustrated with life. They are such a perfect couple that one wonders why it's not the same in reality. Will we see a fourth installment in nine years? (04/12/2013)

To my own surprise, after the scene in the car I stopped watching where the actors were reading their dialogue from, which I suddenly started to have a tendency to enter. Linklater's concept of relationship wrought into resigned feminist dogma (I chuckled maliciously at the scene where the women prepare dinner while the men sit and talk about literature, i.e. the scene the protagonist later leans into) works with the premise of accepting fictional identities that suppress the real identities already mapped and scorned by their counterparts. And I'd like to keep watching that final spark that jumped between the chrononaut and the naive literature student. Even though neither of them exist. (17/10/2013)