The Dusk of Reality: Before Midnight

A lot of people describe this trilogy as the natural evolution of love, to me; it was more like a regression of it, a state of acceptance of a shitty present, the last stage of grief.

And again, if you know me, you know that I hate people who say that this movie was a realistic one, that this one was the one that connected with reality the most, which meant that all relationships were doomed and that the only natural ending to them was an ending that was unsatisfying or filled with anger or sadness that eats a couple.

Since I watched this movie, I decided to think that the writers who wrote the script were different than the ones responsible for the two previous ones, until someone told me that they were actually the same.

They gave those two the perfect build up only to throw them back to the ground and for that I will eternally be disappointed.

Of course, relationships go through phases; they are not always” lovey dovey”, made out of perfect walks and endless talk.

We get a full picture of the couple, a couple formed by two people who brought their individuality to their relationship without one having to sacrifice her or his identity for the other which was something I was fond of.

Jesse and Céline are married with two children, and Jesse has to navigate his new life while also taking in consideration his child from his previous marriage who lives with his ex-wife in Chicago.

Events occur now in Greece, in the Peloponnese coast, Céline and Jesse discuss issues such as Jesse’s concern about his relationship with his son and Céline shares ideas about her career plans.

While we do witness moments of shared love, tenderness and care between the two during the movie, it is easily noticed that the couple finds itself a bit torn between parenthood, their personal lives and careers.

A fierce feisty argument takes place in this movie as Jesse mentions the idea of moving to Chicago to be closer to his son, which leads Céline to an outburst because that limits her career plans and because to be fairly honest that sounds insane to me, the situation is delicate, yes, and I may understand that ideally it would be perfect to be near your son, but to expect your wife and two kids to relocate to another country because of it sounds a little too much to me.

The argument escalades quickly to the point Celine expresses doubts about their relationship and its strength, frustration and disappointment. She doesn’t feel supported in her career choice or prioritised, and while the two are busy defending how each one of them has sacrificed for the sake of their relationship, both of them feel resentment and regret towards one another because they don’t mutually acknowledge each other’s contributions.

Céline leaves Jesse in the room and goes outside after she says she doesn’t love him anymore which is a scene I hated so much. He follows her a bit later and keeps harping on about how their love may not be perfect but is real and that “this is it”, that “he gives up”.

Honestly I didn’t really appreciate his tone and his speech, but it is also implied that the two of them cheat on each other, Jesse while on his book tours and Céline with her ex, which both infuriate me so much.

Ethan Hawke expressed that “the first film is about what could be, the second is about what should have been. Before Midnight is about what it is.”

I hated the writers so much for what they have done to the characters, indeed as already said, relationships are not meant to be perfect and will not always be happy all the time, but they didn’t have to imply that every beautiful relationship had only one predictable ending, the one where the two are miserable and secretly hate and resent each other, the one where cheating is seen as the normal evolution of every relationship and an inevitable part of long-term relationships, it is troubling..

They didn’t have to paint the mediocrity of the ending as an ending that mirrored real life as if real life didn’t have happy old couples that still love each other and cherish one another.

I hate that realism is synonym of accepting that there is no space for self-improvement in relationships, that realism is another way to say that things are only good as they are right now and that in reality every good thing is doomed to end badly.  It perpetuates the idea that all relationships are destined to fail and that conflict and unhealthy ways of expressing anger are the norm rather than the exception, while overlooking the resilience, growth, faithfulness and enduring love that many real-life relationships experience.

So no, the ending was not realistic; it was just stereotypical and with all due respect, messed up, fucked, cynical and very unoriginal.

To end this essay, I hope you remember the German couple we mentioned in the beginning, I do wonder if Céline and Jesse are that couple to someone else, and that may be another couple would form an alliance over their fight. And while the movie ends with what seems to be Jesse and Céline reconciling, you can easily tell that their issues are not really resolved, the movie ends on an ambiguous note and I have a strong feeling that their issues will be brought up again in the future because “what is not resolved will repeat itself”.