Before Midnight (2013)

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.

Director:

Richard Linklater

Writers:

Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy

Stars:

Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 21 wins & 59 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ethan Hawke	...	Jesse
Julie Delpy	...	Celine
Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick	...	Hank
Jennifer Prior	...	Ella
Charlotte Prior	...	Nina
Xenia Kalogeropoulou	...	Natalia
Walter Lassally	...	Patrick
Ariane Labed	...	Anna
Yiannis Papadopoulos	...	Achilleas (as Yannis Papadopoulos)
Athina Rachel Tsangari	...	Ariadni
Panos Koronis	...	Stefanos
Enrico Focardi	...	Child
Manolis Goussias	...	Child
Anouk Servera	...	Child
Yota Argyropoulou	...	Hotel Clerk

Storyline

It has been nine years since we last met Jesse and Celine, the French-American couple who once met on a train in Vienna. They now live in Paris with twin daughters, but have spent a summer in Greece on the invitation of an author colleague of Jesse's. When the vacation is over and Jesse must send his teenage son off to the States, he begins to question his life decisions, and his relationship with Celine is at risk.

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Plot Keywords:

greece | hotel | hotel room | american | writer | 

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Taglines:

Everything's better with maturity

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content/nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Greece

Language:

English Greek French

Release Date:

14 June 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Before Midnight

Filming Locations:

Kardamyli, Messinia, Greece

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$246,914, 26 May 2013, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$8,114,627

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$23,380,979

Company Credits

Production Co:

Faliro House Productions,Venture Forth,Castle Rock Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the final scene of Before Sunset (2004), Celine and Jesse discuss their admiration for Nina Simone and Celine dances to "Just in Time." In this film, one of their daughters is named Nina. The name of the other daughter, Ella, is likely a reference to Ella Fitzgerald.

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Goofs

Jesse's hair style changed when he and Celine are in the hotel room. The hair style is back to the previous style again when they sit outside.

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Quotes

Nina: Like sunlight, sunset, we appear, we disappear. We are so important to some, but we are just passing through.

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Connections

Featured in ReelzChannel Specials: Richard Roeper's Red Hot Summer (2013)

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Soundtracks

Stou Mema ta traina
Music & Lyrics by Nikos Kalogeropoulos
Performed by Panayiotis Antellis
From the CD 'Alogomyges'
Courtesy of Nikos Kalogeropoulos

User Reviews

Third time's a Charm!

I just saw this amazing movie at its Sundance premiere. It's wonderful on so many levels I don't know where to start. The performances are fantastic. If Julie Delpy doesn't get an Oscar nomination it would be a shame (the only stupider thing the Academy could do is have 10 best picture nominations.) Ethan Hawke's performance is brilliant in its own way, however, it's a less showy part and I'm not certain it'll get the recognition it deserves.

The writing is astounding. Sharp, intelligent, biting, humorous, with staggering subtext, but most importantly--it feels real. If the screenplay doesn't get an Oscar nomination it would be a shame (the only thing stupider the Academy could do is have 15 best picture nominations.)

Rick Linklater is now officially the Jedi master of indie filmmaking (Yoda Soderbergh actually said he's giving up filmmaking.) SLACKERS was only 22 years ago, and Linklater has matured into one of the most original filmic storytellers in the history of the medium. 95% of the movie is two-shots of people talking (the other 5% is people talking at a dinner table and cut aways to the gorgeous Greek landscape.) I don't know any other living filmmaker who could pull this off. There's a one-take during a car drive that lasts probably ten minutes (before a brief cut away), however, it goes on for probably another ten minutes (and Linklater said he could have kept the whole take, but needed to show ruins along the country side and cut away for script purposes, not performance.) There's a 30 minute scene of the two actors in a hotel room and I didn't even notice it (by that time I was so invested in the characters and their actions and emotions I wasn't even aware of time, it wasn't until the post screening Q&A that Linklater mentioned the actual 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 for them and the audience. This is a must see for many reasons (including the history of film--there's only one other modern trilogy where the final film is the best--LOTR, and their food budget was probably more than the total cost of BEFORE MIDNIGHT.)

i could go on gushing about this movie ad nauseum, however I'll finish by saying that BEFORE MIDNIGHT is what indie film making (and the Sundance Film Festival) is all about--truly original, creative, unique, interesting characters and their stories, told outside the Hollywood system, by people passionate about their craft (and in this case at the top of their craft).