After walking and arguing in the streets of Vienna (“Sunrise”)
and Paris (“Sunset”) the lovers are still doing the same thing, now in
Peloponnese peninsula, in Greece (they are vacationing there). The film starts
with Jesse (Ethan Hawke), a successful novelist, saying bye to Hank (Jesse’s 14
year old son from previous marriage). Hank says that this is his best summer in
his life and takes the plane to Chicago, where his mother lives. Jesse ponders
over his estranged relationship with Hank and returns to Celine (Julie Delpy),
the love of his life and the woman for whom he divorced his wife. Celine and
Jesse have two lovely 8 year old twin girls. Their kindled romance is slowly
dying out, like any long-term committed couple. They are coping with each
others faults.
The first hour passes through the luminous landscapes of
Greece. Jesse and Celine are staying in an old villa of famous writer along
with other guests. There is a long dinner scene, which is a joy to watch. The
scene is stages an intellectual conversation with light touch, like any classic
French New Wave cinema. Then, the couple leaves their kids and head off to a
romantic hotel, where their frustrations flare up. Celine is an environmental
activist and she is considering taking a job with the government in Paris,
whereas, Jesse wants to reconnect with his son and so would like them to move
from Paris to the United States. Their naturalistic exchanges provoke us think
about love, aging and work.
Director Richard Linklater is one of the best independent
film-maker. From the sprawling high-school epic, “Dazed and Confused” to “Before
Midnight”, he’s always been interested in motor-mouthed man-boy like character.
His movies’ greatest supporting character is the setting (the time and place).
They lend a rich texture to the proceedings. All those trademarks are present
here, too, and his poetic meditations on youth, and middle age have steadily
gotten better. The original “Before Sunrise” was scripted by Linklater,
however, the sequels had intimate involvement of Hawke and Delpy in the writing
process.
The most powerful aspect of this trilogy is the emotional impact of
the conversations: the long uninterrupted takes makes us think that they are
someone we know, and their problems seem very real. The ebb and flow of the
communication remains undiluted and genuine, unlike the Hollywood’s version of
husband/wife relationship. As a viewer, we haven’t even spent three days with
these characters, but somehow we know all about them. The script also addresses
the various stages of relationships. When they first met at the 20’s they were
unbound by responsibility. In the second part, the burden of adulthood and
responsibility is slowly weighing on them, now, at 41, they struggle at
balancing their respective careers and family.
The acting, as usual, is top notch. As Jesse, Hawke always
looks into Celine’s eyes to cut into her misery and anguish. He still remains
as the fecklessly romantic man-child. Julie Delpy as Celine gives a marveling
performance as her character has matured into a harder, more bitterly restrained
soul (perhaps with reason). Her epic hotel-room conversation with Hawke
reflects the thoughts of many middle-aged women. Thinking about the twin girls,
she backs down, stops arguing, and a little later she comes back roaring, after
contemplating the anguish of her career failure. Both the actors’ performances
make us realize that they are tough people to live with, at the same time we
can’t help but root for them to make it work.
Linklater’s camerawork is unobtrusive and they make us feel
that we’re invading Jesse and Celine’s privacy. The masterful long take inside
the car and then inside later a hotel-room are neither overblown nor underdone.
Although the trilogy is based on the same couple, they are tonally different. “Before Midnight” is brilliant than the
first two parts, since it explores new things: like grievance and fear. The
romances in the first two movies are something we usually see (even though they
were excellently scripted and directed). The third film is more practical. Age
and long-term commitment has made them to do defensive backtracking and
self-justification.
Cinema is often related with over-produced, special-effects
ridden, mainstream fare. It’s not there just for the sake of escapist
entertainment. I like escapist movies, but I love a movie like “Before Midnight”,
which has the power and guts to confront something real and honest. It is a
fitting addition to the trilogy and an experience to be cherished by all the movie-lovers.
Trailer
No comments:
Post a Comment