Before Midnight

Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy redefine romance in Richard Linklater’s minimalistic relationship study co-produced by Athina Rachel Tsangari.

Eighteen years after meeting on a train to Vienna (Before Sunrise) and nine years after reuniting in a Paris bookshop (Before Sunset), Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) are now part of a neat family unit based in Paris.

On an idyllic summer holiday in Greece at a writers’ retreat, conversations skew towards their mutual love and adoration, but as their holiday draws to a close and they’re afforded some alone time, the romanticised masks slip away.

Curator’s Note

This final instalment in Linklater’s celebrated Before Trilogy elevates the already highly acclaimed series. What started as a fleeting youthful romance in the original film has transformed here into a thoughtful re-evaluation of what love is.

Collaboration certainly is key. This is very much a Linklater-Delpy-Hawke creation, with all three co-writing the screenplay and evolving the characters for a new millennium. However, Athina Rachel Tsangari’s calling cards are all over the film. Aside from its Greek setting (Tsangari’s home country), the film also features Ariane Labed from Tsangari’s earlier film Attenberg and Panos Koronis, who would go on to star in Chevalier. Tsangari even steps in front of the camera herself, delivering a warm and naturalistic performance as Ariadni.

– Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)