How it turned out
TimeBefore Midnight is the third film in the "Before" trilogy. In this film we see how Jesse divorced his wife to get married to Celine. We don't get to see this but the movie starts around 9 years after Before Sunset. Within these 9 years that have passed Jesse and Celine had a pair of twins. This entire film takes place over the time of one day, again. Linklater has done an amazing job at making these films feel like real time however this one in particular didn't seem as strong, there were more cuts to different scenes which removes us from the previous movies "live time". Jesse is about 41 years which is an important time in life. As we get older there are things we have to do and other things that we can't do. "Mid-life crisis" is something that isn't touched on much in this film but its something that Jesse is actually avoiding. Even though they are around their 40s Jesse is still clinging to that romantic teenage persona. A simple well known aspect to time that is even discussed by the characters is: when your younger you want to speed up time but as you get older you keep trying to slow it down.
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KidsKids are a huge aspect to this particular film in this trilogy. To start the movie off we get to see Jesse saying goodbye to his son, Hank, as hes getting on the plane to go back to his mother, Jesse's ex-wife. On top of Hank Jesse also has two twins with Celine. The reason that kids play such an important role in this is because kids are like a ball and chain. Many different films touch on the topic about how when you have kids it locks you down and forces you to grow up. I actually have two friends that had a kid at 19 years old. They had to give up on a lot of things they enjoyed doing, they had to get double full time jobs however they still love their new baby. Kids are a responsibility and a gift. They are a beautiful aspect to life but the responsibility causes people to grow up. This is where the main conflict starts to grow between Jesse and Celine. Jesse wants to be the proper father to his first child, Hank, during his high-school years which is a key turning point in life.
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Marital ConflictIn the beginning of the movie we get to see the first interaction between Celine and Jesse. This first interaction was important to me because as they are talking I noticed that all the awkwardness that used to be between them in Before Sunset and Before Sunrise. It seems at first that they are happy and get along well however the movie kinda takes a turn that I did not expect. "The Long and Winding Road" discusses the problems that come with marriage and living together. As we go through the movie there are a few times where (in my eyes) Celine goes a little overboard. However Jesse may have been the one to start the conflict to me it was Celine that continuously brings up and escalates the problem. The key conflict of this movie was if Jesse and Celine should move to the U.S. to be there for Hank. However this conflict is just the channel for which to talk about the actual conflicts which are things such as Celine's uncertainty about her job, Jesse's desire to be a proper father and a romantic husband or even both of their unhappiness with how their life has turned out. One line that really stuck with me was how Jesse said he was going to save Celine from all the bullshit of life, how they together could work through the bullshit and see the love they used to have.
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