The third installment in the Celine and Jesse trilogy is a frank look at the pitfalls of long-term romantic commitment, a very loose retelling of Rossellini’s Journey To Italy (with a dash of Godard's Le Mepris / Contempt), and a meditation on the continuity (or lack thereof) of identity: how much can two people change before they break completely with their past selves?
Before Midnight finds Jesse and Celine at the tail end of a summer in Greece, and the new location brings with it a shift in perspective. In one long passage, the pair contribute to a dinner party turned modern-day Greek symposium in which they’re placed in a chronological lineup of couples young and old.
From then on, it’s their show: we see them reminisce, crack jokes, pick at each other’s sore spots, engage in some ungainly foreplay (with little of the previous films’ chaste discretion), and finally erupt into full-scale conflict.
The result is a miracle of a movie, equally wistful and unsentimental, blunt and tender, allusive and plainspoken. Before Midnight ends on a touching grace note that brings the series satisfyingly full circle.
