Richard Linklater's 'Before' trilogy follows Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy over an 18-year period as they fall in love against the clock.
The trilogy is, arguably, a staple of American cinema. In the last fifty or so years, Hollywood has brought to screens some of the most celebrated stories told in three parts. From Back to the Future to Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man to the revived Planet of the Apes, there’s something rather special about following a core group of characters as they journey from one film to the next, confronting new challenges and growing stronger and wiser with time.
If the events of Sunrise were a dream, then what unfolds during Sunset is a reality check. Midnight then raises the stakes even higher as the characters, now married and parents to two daughters, face the possibility that their relationship may be over. It’s very easily the hardest watch of the series, their usual fanciful ideas for the future now replaced by an aggressive longing for the past.
Moving on, it could be said that one of the most interesting features of the Before trilogy is that each film takes place in the decade in which it was made. Sunrise is set in the mid-1990s, Sunset in the early 2000s, and Midnight in the early 2010s. And so, what the trilogy delivers is a love story eighteen years in the making.