Before Trilogy: Depicting a Real Relationship

18 Years, 3 Films, 2 Characters, 1 Love Story

Richard Linklater’s famous Before Trilogy takes us on a 18-year long ride, where we observe the lives of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) for 3 days, but those three days are enough for us to watch them fall in love, separate and reunite only to find themselves stuck in their 40’s, no longer young and wild. The Before Trilogy paints a real and unusual love story that has its roots in realities of life and the hardships which come with it at various stages of life.

Before Sunrise

Jesse and Celine’s story starts in 1995 when they meet during a train journey by chance and hit it off instantly, finding each other’s company interesting and appeasing. Jesse and Celine are young and naïve. The film meticulously explores the personalities of Jesse and Celine. Jesse is hopeful and brimming with ideas; Celine is rebellious and ambitious. Even though they do not have a lot in common, their idea of ‘self’ resonates. She thinks of herself as an old woman who is contemplating life, whereas he imagines himself as a 12-year-old boy. They have profound ideas about life yet they lack experience. Their story feels uncertain from the very moment they decide not to share their phone numbers as it will only fizz down their feelings for each other and the magical time they share in the city. They decide that they will definitely meet each other in the same city 6 months later, but does that ever happen?

Before Sunset

Nine years later, the compelling couple meets again in Paris. Things are not quite the same as they were before, but their love has only deepened over time. With the second part of the trilogy, Linklater gives us an insight into how their lives have panned out in the last 9 years. Celine has become an environmentalist, but she couldn’t manage a stable relationship. Jesse on the other hand is in a miserable marriage with a kid and has written a book about what happened in Vienna, hoping to find her. They both are hurting, in pain and confused with how their life has turned out. They are once again walking in a European city during summers talking about life and its meaning, but their perspective has completely changed. Their conversations here are a reflection of how much they miss each other. They are no longer wild, adventurous, or have the same amount of passion for life. They somehow left a part of their souls with each other in Vienna that night which they could never find in anyone else. They have now accepted the harsh realities of life. They do believe in the magic in the universe, but somehow their own lives have become devoid of any magic.

Before Midnight

Richard Linklater’s third and final installment of the Before Trilogy narrates us one more day in the lives of Jesse and Celine and it takes us to Southern Greece and at a phase in their lives where they have started to question all their decisions. This time we take a deeper dive into their relationship as we see them tackle life, love, and parenthood. Their soaring ambition does not align with the lives that they have created for themselves which creates a rift between them. They somehow feel insecure in their own skin and try to ensure that their feelings are the same for each other and if Jesse would still ask Celine; a 40-year-old mother of 2 to hop off a train and explore a city with him. They love their children but cherish the time that they get away from them. On a long walk to a hotel, they try to find their love and that same spark in their relationship while they converse on the topics of life, love, death, and growing old together. The film caps off an amazing three-film series depicting the modern-day relationship filled with love and arguments.

Even though they are honest with each other and have the most heartfelt conversations, they have an indirect way of expressing love for each other in all three films. In Before Sunrise, they express their feelings through a hypothetical phone conversation. In Before Sunset, Celine expresses her love and longing for Jesse through a beautiful song. In the third film, Jesse enacts Celine’s true love ‘Jesse’ from the future who is visiting her through a time machine and explains to her how he is the love of her life. The beauty of this trilogy lies in these beautiful details and the fact of how it captures the reality of a real relationship. Richard Linklater has beautifully depicted how their love faces both fantastical and tumultuous times and how they overcome everything. Celine and Jesse are definitely our favorite on-screen couples with their love, laughs, and walks embedded deep into our hearts.

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Written By:

Moksh Jindal & Muskan Sharma

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