Before Midnight (2013) ***1/2 [Before Triple Feature Pt. 3]

Before Midnight (2013) picks up nine years after Before Sunset (2004) (my review here) and eighteen years since the "fateful" meeting in Before Sunrise (1995) (my review here). This is what you call the "bummer" entry in the trilogy. It was a critical darling, but it's my least favorite of the series by a mile.

Jesse and Celine now have children together (but aren't married) and the action takes place in Greece during the tail end of a family vacation. The realities of life have sunk in for this couple and they no longer have the spark that they once did. Linklater's direction is just as good as the other two Before films, and Hawke and Delpy once again give impassioned performances that feel true to life, but the writing feels a bit more forced and pretentious (particularly in the villa scenes).

And while I certainly appreciate the realism, I have to say I am not a fan of who the characters have become by this outing, particularly Celine, who comes off as a manic bitch. Jesse is certainly no saint either—he (along with Celine) says some hurtful things but the film seems to villainize Celine in a way that doesn't sit well with me.

Before Midnight plays in the same sandbox as Bergman's Scenes From A Marriage (1973) (my review here) and Baumbach's Marriage Story (2019) (my review here) though I think those are both stronger films (Scenes is more poetic and Story is more raw and depressing). I can't deny that the filmmaking is good—as are the performances—I just feel I would have been better off not knowing that J&C ended up this way. 

It's a frustrating, cynical, and heartbreaking way to end this series. If the moral of the trilogy is that all relationships are bound to deteriorate and there is no such thing as true, everlasting love where people don't end up disliking each other, I kind of just want to stay single.

You can find my Richard Linklater Feature Films Ranked list here.