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Title: Before Midnight (2013)
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| 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 |
|
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Anouk Servera | ... | Child |
| Yota Argyropoulou | ... | Hotel Clerk | |
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. Written by Peter Brandt Nielsen
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I have decided that I have to cut this movie at least a little bit of slack. Although I sometimes think that the rating on here are ridiculous, when over 41,000 people have given this a ranking of over 8, I'll admit the possibility that it must have something going for it. Mainly, I'm going to admit that because I realize that this is the third of a trilogy - a trilogy of which I was completely unaware. My wife rented this without knowing that actually. Had I known of the trilogy I would probably have suggested watching the first two before getting into this. But I didn't, she didn't, and so we rented this. And I still have to give my honest thoughts, noting that I haven't seen the first two instalments.
I watched it two days ago and have been trying to let it percolate in my mind. Unfortunately my basic thought about it hasn't changed. After watching it and spending two days reflecting on it, I still really don't have much of a clue what it was about. Yeah. I get it that it's about the relationship between Jesse and Celine (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) - married with children but with a relationship that has more than a few issues, although at first at least it seems happy enough. So it's about them. OK.
First of all, though, I thought there were far too many conversations going on - sometimes between them, sometimes between groups. Sometimes they just went on and on and on. The opening car ride with the two of them and their children sleeping in the back of the car was excruciating. I almost joined the children in blissful sleep. The scene around the table with the group who were invited there to spend the summer with the famous writer (why?) was heavy on philosophical meanderings but really not interesting. I wondered how the actors could get through the script awake. And the hotel room scene between the two of them where everything finally fell apart? Some think that was a magnificent portrayal. Me? I thought she was coming across as a - well - I won't use the word. I suppose the redeeming quality of that was that to me at least it finally portrayed the man of the relationship in a positive light, expressing love, while she seemed to be twisting his every word into some sort of attack on her, on her life, on her identity. Whatever. Yeah. It came across as a totally unnecessary feminist diatribe. Ultimately, it ended on a somewhat hopeful note. But I can't say I got too much out of it.
But I'll cut it a bit of slack. I don't have the background of the first two instalments. Maybe that would put all this in context. Maybe. So - 3/10.