Before Midnight (film)
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''Before Midnight'' is a 2013 American
romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...
drama film directed by
Richard Linklater Richard Stuart Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for films that revolve mainly around suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies '' ...
, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ethan Hawke and
Julie Delpy Julie Delpy (; born 21 December 1969) is a French-American actress, film director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, includi ...
. The sequel to '' Before Sunrise'' (1995) and '' Before Sunset'' (2004), it is the third installment in the ''Before'' trilogy. The film follows Jesse (Hawke) and Céline (Delpy), now a couple, as they spend a summer vacation in Greece with their children. Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy began developing a third film in 2011, wishing to replicate the nine-year gap between the first two installments. Principal photography began in August 2012, and took place entirely on the
Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...
coast in Southern Greece, including the Kardamyli home once owned by author Patrick Leigh Fermor. Like its predecessors, ''Before Midnight'' has a minimal plot, with considerable screentime devoted to extended conversations between the characters. ''Before Midnight'' premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
on January 20, 2013. It began a domestic
limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
on May 24, 2013, and went on general release on June 14, 2013. It grossed $23 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film in the trilogy. It received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its exploration of romance and age, its screenplay, Linklater's direction, and acting performances. The film garnered many accolades and was nominated for the Academy Award for
Best Adapted Screenplay This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
, the
Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...
for
Best Adapted Screenplay This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for Delpy.


Plot

Nine years since rekindling their relationship, Jesse and Céline have become parents to twin girls. Jesse reflects on his inability to maintain his relationship with his teenage son, Hank. Hank flies home to Chicago after vacationing with the couple and their children on the Greek
Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...
peninsula, and lives with his mother, Jesse's ex-wife. Jesse is a successful novelist, while Céline is at a career crossroads, considering a job with the French government. The couple discuss their concerns over Hank, as well as Céline's career, and reflect on love and life over dinner with friends. Their friends pay for a hotel room for the couple; while walking to the hotel, Jesse and Céline reminisce about their initial meetings, and wonder if they would become a couple if they met in their present state. After reaching the hotel, they begin to get intimate but are interrupted by a phone call from Hank, who seems to have bonded with Céline more than Jesse. They eventually have a fierce argument, expressing fears about the strength of their relationship. Jesse wants them to consider moving to Chicago so he can be closer to Hank, which Céline thinks will cost her any chance of a career outside her family. During the argument, Céline leaves and returns twice. Then she tells Jesse she thinks she no longer loves him. Céline leaves their room the third time and sits alone in the hotel's outdoor restaurant. Jesse joins her and jokes that he is a time traveler (referencing their first meeting), bringing her a letter from her 82-year-old self, describing this night as one of the best of their lives. Unamused, Céline says their fantasies will never match the imperfect reality. Jesse says while their love may be imperfect, it is real. After a moment, Céline joins in Jesse's joke, and the two reconcile.


Cast


Production

Richard Linklater Richard Stuart Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for films that revolve mainly around suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies '' ...
, Ethan Hawke, and
Julie Delpy Julie Delpy (; born 21 December 1969) is a French-American actress, film director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, includi ...
had all discussed doing a sequel to ''Before Sunset'' (or the third in a trilogy). In November 2011, Hawke said that he, Delpy and Linklater
"have been talking a lot in the last six months. All three of us have been having similar feelings, that we're kind of ready to revisit those characters. There's nine years between the first two movies and, if we made the film next summer, it would be nine years again, so we started thinking that would be a good thing to do. So we're going to try and write it this year."
In June 2012, Hawke confirmed that the sequel to ''Before Sunset'' would be filmed that summer. Soon after, Delpy denied filming would take place that year. By that August, numerous reports emerged from Messenia, Greece, that the film was being shot there. The completion of the sequel, ''Before Midnight'', was announced on September 5, 2012. Linklater said that, after ten weeks of writing and rehearsing, the film was made in 15 days for less than $3 million. He announced plans to premiere the film at a festival in early 2013.


Release

''Before Midnight'' premiered on January 20, 2013, at the
2013 Sundance Film Festival The 2013 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 17, 2013, until January 27, 2013, in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ogden, Utah, and Sundance, Utah. The festival had 1,830 volunteers. Films A r ...
. It had its international premiere out of competition at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. The film opened to general audiences on May 24, 2013, at five theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and Austin, Texas. It was released wide in 897 theaters on June 14, 2013.


Box office

The film grossed $8,110,621 domestically and $15,141,309 internationally, for a worldwide gross of $23,251,930.


Critical reception

Like the previous entry of the trilogy, ''Before Midnight'' received widespread critical acclaim. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 98% based on reviews from 203 critics, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The site's consensus is: "Building on the first two installments in Richard Linklater's well-crafted Before trilogy, ''Before Midnight'' offers intelligent, powerfully acted perspectives on love, marriage, and long-term commitment." Metacritic gives the film a score of 94 out of 100, based on reviews from 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". It was listed as the third-best film of the year after ''
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'' and '' Gravity''. It was the second-best reviewed film of 2013 according to Rotten Tomatoes, after
Alfonso Cuarón Alfonso Cuarón Orozco ( , ; born 28 November 1961) is a Mexican filmmaker. He is known for directing films in a variety of genres including the family drama ''A Little Princess (1995 film), A Little Princess'' (1995), the romantic drama ''Gre ...
's ''Gravity''. According to '' Total Film''s Philip Kemp, "As with its two predecessors — and with the films of
French New Wave French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...
director Éric Rohmer, presiding deity of this kind of cinema—''Midnights essentially a film about people talking. But when the talk's this good, this absorbing and revealing and witty and true, who's going to complain?... t's amore-than-worthy, expectation-exceeding chapter in one of modern cinema's finest love stories. As honest, convincing, funny, intimate and natural as its predecessors." Perry Seibert of
AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...
also praised the film, writing: "The screenwriting trio fill the movie with long, discursive conversations (there are only two scenes in the first 20 minutes) that feel utterly improvised when they are performed, but are far too deftly structured to be anything other than the work of consummate artists." Eric Kohn, from ''Indiewire'', gave the film a rave review, adding it to his list of Top 10 Films of 2013. He wrote that "With ''Before Midnight'', Richard Linklater has completed one of the finest movie trilogies of all time." Peter Bradshaw of '' The Guardian'' called the film "intimate and intelligent".


Accolades

Each date is linked to the article about the awards held that year.


Top ten lists

According to Metacritic, the film appeared on the following critics' top 10 lists of 2013. * 1st –
James Berardinelli James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...
, ''ReelViews'' * 1st – '' The A.V. Club'' * 1st – Chris Nashawaty, '' Entertainment Weekly'' * 1st –
Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...
, '' The New York Times'' * 1st – Justin Chang, '' Variety'' * 2nd – A.A. Dowd, '' The A.V. Club'' * 2nd – Nick Schager, ''The A.V. Club'' * 2nd – '' Total Films 50 Best Movies of 2013 * 2nd – '' E!'' * 3rd –
Lisa Schwarzbaum Lisa Schwarzbaum (born July 5, 1952) is an American film critic. She joined ''Entertainment Weekly'' as a film critic in the 1990s and remained there until February 2013. Career She has been featured on CNN, co-hosted '' Siskel & Ebert at the Mov ...
, '' BBC'' * 3rd – ''
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'' * 3rd –
Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for ''Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...
, '' Entertainment Weekly'' * 3rd – Eric Kohn, '' Indiewire'' * 3rd – '' Film Comments 50 Best Films of 2013 * 4th – Christopher Rosen & Mike Ryan, '' The Huffington Post'' * 4th – Peter Travers, '' Rolling Stone'' * 4th – Kristopher Tapleys, '' HitFix'' * 5th – Robert Gifford, '' The Diamondback'' * 6th – Sam Adams, ''The A.V. Club'' * 6th – Marlow Stern, '' The Daily Beast'' * 6th - Lukas Krycek, Comedian/Film Critic * 7th – Stephanie Zacharek, '' The Village Voice'' * 7th – ''
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'' * 8th – '' Empire'' * 8th – Scott MacDonald, ''The A.V. Club'' * 8th – Chris Vognar, '' The Dallas Morning News'' * 11th – Ben Kenigsberg, ''The A.V. Club'' * 12th –
Glenn Kenny Glenn Kenny (born August 8, 1959) is an American film critic and journalist. He writes for ''The New York Times'' and '' RogerEbert.com''. Biography Kenny attended William Paterson University, where he majored in English literature. * 14th – Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, ''The A.V. Club'' * In alphabetical order – Manohla Dargis, ''The New York Times'' * In alphabetical order – Dana Stevens, ''
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'' * Best films of 2013 – Peter Bradshaw, '' The Guardian'' * Best movies of the year – David Denby, '' The New Yorker'' * Best movies of 2013 – The Week ''The A.V. Club'' film critics named "The fight" scene the Scene of the Year.


Notes


Footnote

# The " Castle Rock Entertainment" logo does not appear in this film's opening.


References


External links

*
"One couple - nearly 20 years - all before midnight"
NPR, May 19, 2013
Official screenplay
at Sony Pictures Classics * * * * * *
''The Before Trilogy: Time Regained''
an essay by Dennis Lim at the
Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Before Midnight 2013 films 2013 romantic drama films 2010s English-language films American sequel films American independent films American romantic drama films Films directed by Richard Linklater Films set in Greece Films shot in Greece Castle Rock Entertainment films Films about conversations Sony Pictures Classics films 2013 independent films Before trilogy 2010s American films