Before: Sunrise, Sunset, Midnight
TimeTime is THE key feature of this series. In all three films there are different aspects of time. But one thing they all have in common is that they take place over only one day, and yet there are several years that go by between the films. In before Sunrise we get this slow paced film that occurs over the span of one night. The key features that gives us this are the camera angles, the awkward silences, and the pace of the actors through the streets of Vienna. We follow these two as they just walk around and take life as it comes. I think that Before Sunset actually had the best time span. The movie was in real time, meaning that the movie took about 1 hour 50 min and that's how much time the characters had together. Linklater does a great job at doing this because in Before Sunset there were very few transitional sections, meaning we actually see them change scenes. These long duration shots give us a nice feel for the awkwardness and tension between them at this time. Now time in the final movie, Before Midnight, takes place almost 9 years later, and a lot has changed. The awkwardness that had been between Jesse and Celine has disappeared and been replaced with tension. However in this section we are talking about time, which in Before Midnight was handled very differently than Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. In this movie the entire day is covered, from the morning when Hank is dropped off at the airport till midnight when Jesse and Celine seemingly make up. There are several instances where we get a passage of time without seeing what happened in between. This kinda pulled away the spontaneity of their relationship. Now that Jesse and Celine are married they spend a lot of time together, so the awkwardness has dissolved and been replaced with struggles that come up.
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Love/RelationshipsBefore Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight are a series of movies that cover a relationship over a long period of time. In Before Sunrise we see two complete strangers spend an entire day and night together and end up falling in love with each other. We see things like awkward silences and conversations that normally wouldn't get talked about. This concept of openness is easier to achieve when you are talking to someone you most likely will never meet again. However because of this openness we actually see Jesse and Celine fall in love with each other. Several years later we get the movie Before Sunset in which Jesse and Celine meet up again. The only problem is that they are both grown up a bit more and have their own relationships and responsibilities. We find out that Jesse is married but was haunted by the idea of what life might have been like if he had been with Celine instead. There is still the same amount or even more awkwardness between them as they realize they love each other but don't know what to do about it. We end up finding out in Before Midnight that both Celine and her boyfriend break up and Jesse and his wife separate and that Celine and Jesse are now married. 9 years after Before Sunset, Before Midnight gives us a look at how their relationship has taken a new form. The awkwardness and tension that was between them has disappeared and been replaced with a new atmosphere, conflict. They seem happy together at times but there are several instanced where conflict overcomes that and they engage in heated arguments. One of which is whether they will move to Chicago so that Jesse can be the father he wants to be for Henry. This is important to Jesse because as he was growing up he didn't have the best relationship with his parents and he wants to be the best father he can be for Henry.
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