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:

hotel | writer | dinner | jealousy | chapel | 

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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:

Untitled Before Sunset Sequel

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

Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, and Julie Delpy had an idea to just show Jesse and Celine on a typical day: Someone goes and picks up the kids and it's only later at night that they have this together moment which actually was one of the original ideas behind the title.

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Goofs

When Jesse and Celine are watching the sunset, there is no sunlight on their faces.

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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

Referenced in AniMat's Classic Reviews: A Scanner Darkly (2015)

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Soundtracks

Gia ena tango
Written by Haris Alexiou (as Charis Alexiou)
Performed by Haris Alexiou (as Charis Alexiou)
Courtesy of Chamano Publishing

User Reviews

Not as wonderful as the last one but definitely worth your time

I enjoyed Before Sunrise when I first saw it, and thought it was a clever, charming movie with an innovative approach. In my opinion though, Before Sunrise was vastly elevated by being paired with Before Sunset 9 years later.

Before Sunset is an exceptional movie, much more melancholic than its predecessor, but understandably so because the characters had grown up and had to let go of childish notions of fairytale happy ever afters. What makes Before Sunset so wonderful though is the notion throughout that even though things went wrong it's never too late to fix them.

Before Midnight is a different film to the previous two. In my opinion it is about two people who, having made the mistake of losing contact the first time, will work to make sure it never happens again. They were never going to have a fairytale life because they are both very complicated, and I liked the realism of how their relationship developed as they got older.

I strongly disagree with other reviewers who say that Before Midnight can be watched without seeing the previous two. I criticised people who did that for Before Sunset and would caution against it even more for this one. Before Midnight relies on the idea that the audience understands how complicated the characters are and therefore continues to like them even when they do things which could seem nasty and shallow.

In summary, while my favourite of the three movies remains Before Sunset, Before Midnight adds richly to the overarching story that has been told, in real time over 18 years, of two characters that fans of the series have grown to love. As a three part series, the Before movies are practically perfect.