Critics Say: 'Before Midnight' A Fitting End to Trilogy

There are no special effects in "Before Midnight," no animinated characters, no explosions or curious cave men. There are just the same two people whom audiences met in "Before Sunrise," Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy), and saw again in "Before Sunset." In this lastest installment chronicling their lives, the two have been together for nine years, living in Paris with their tow-headed, eight-year-old twin girls. The blush is off their romance, with grievances hardening into resentments. We meet them at the end of an extended stay in Greece, and spend the day with them, privy to their long talks, arguments and memories. The conversations are so intimate, it feels like we are eavesdropping on close friends. 

Here's what the critics are saying:

In a summer of numbing, effects-driven spectacle and formulaic blockbusters (and it's only the first week of June!), Before Midnight serves as an invigorating antidote. This is a movie that mines deep beneath the surface of human feeling. It will make you think - about love, about life, about two people who aren't real, except that they've become so for so many of us in this improbably successful indie franchise. Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

But "Before Midnight" -- the third film in this remarkable, unexpected trilogy * -- does something shocking. It questions that belief, exploring the idea that "true love" is more about committed choices than "destiny." Linklater, Delpy and Hawke (who collaborated on the screenplay) challenge many of the notions that made "Before Sunrise" such a romantic touchstone for young viewers. The new film is an emotional evolution, not a departure, and a fairly brilliant evolution at that. It's also the funniest, bluntest and best-acted of the three films. Mike Russell, The Oregonian

How they try to rekindle that flame is what drives Midnight, a film that feels so authentic it’s like overhearing a conversation you’re not sure you should be hearing. At this point, Hawke and Delpy know their characters so well, they easily slip into them like a second skin. Having these films come along every nine years is becoming something to look forward to. Yet if this is the last time Linklater allows us to catch up with these two — it would be a shame if the quality dropped in future installments — then Midnight is a great way to say goodbye. Cary Darling, Dallas Morning News

You don’t need to have seen the earlier episodes in Jesse and Celine’s adventures to understand and enjoy this one. You may find yourself seeking them out and watching them anyway. “Before Midnight” is sublime as a stand-alone, as the finale of a trilogy that brings everything full circle, or as a milepost in a captivating continuing story. At the fadeout, I was hoping this was not “goodbye” but “au revoir.” Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

The first two films were courtship dramas and wildly romantic. It might have seemed that all they did was talk, but they were seducing each other, and the question was always whether it would work, whether they would get together. For "Before Midnight," the same dramatic strategy is no longer possible. Now the question is whether they will stay together, and this makes for an entirely different movie, not just non-romantic but anti-romantic, a movie that can make an audience sad about what sometimes happens to lovers a few years down the line. Mick LaSalle, Hearst Newspapers

"Before Midnight" is rated R and runs 109 minutes.