THE BEFORE TRILOGY 15
1995 – 2013 OUT NOW BD EXTRAS Commentary, Documentary, Featurettes, Video essay
Half-jokingly referred to as “the lowest-grossing trilogy in film history” within the expansive extras, Richard Linklater’s Before series is far more adored than its box-office receipts suggest. At once everyday and experimental, the peripatetic romantic saga follows Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) from the youthful idealism of first-sight love to the challenging realities of married life.
These new-to-the-UK 2K transfers are pristine postcards from the past. Before Sunrise (1995) sees the pair spend 24 hours in Vienna; Before Sunset (2004) catches up with them in a ‘chance’ rendezvous in Paris nine years later; and the same amount of time elapses again for Before Midnight (2013), as the now-married couple holiday in Greece.
Viewed together in proximity, the films’ themes and ideas fold in on themselves. “Think of this as time travel, from then to now,” says a typically philosophical Jesse in Sunrise, pre-empting a trilogy binge-watch two decades before it’s even possible. Motifs of flashbacks and memories persist, suggesting that the trilogy isn’t nearly as casual as it seems.
As open as the films are to study (proved in special features like an academic tête-à-tête and video essay), they’re delightful to just exist with in the moment. Jesse and Céline are one of the all-time great screen couples, with a full-spectrum chemistry that’s heart-piercingly authentic. Forget action set-pieces: following them as they walk and talk is as engaging as anything you can point a camera at.
The cinema of Linklater is often about the in-between moments (see also Dazed And Confused and Boyhood, the other giants on his CV), and the Before trilogy proves there’s nothing more dramatic than a genuine human connection. Viewed in succession, the excavated animosities of Midnight are all the more keenly felt, the innate but effortful romance all the more touching. Watching Hawke and Delpy age on-screen as their relationship develops from uncynical naivety to lived-in realism adds immeasurable heft, and the extras attest to the actors’ (later credited as co-writers) essential involvement creating the characters.
The boxset’s special features (ported over from the US release, with many new to the UK) are as generous as anyone familiar with Criterion will have come to expect. Among the highlights are a feature-length 2016 doc on Linklater’s career, and vintage behind-the-scenes footage from Sunrise and Sunset, which have a time-capsule effect that parallels the films. This is the perfect excuse to swoon over a series that’s aged magnificently. Matt Maytum