The correct order to watch Before starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy

When you think of great movie trilogies, you probably think of Adaptation of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings or the original Star Wars films – but if Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy doesn’t immediately spring to mind either, you should definitely take the time to see this stunning, deeply emotional and brilliantly shot film, which centers on two lovers at different times their lives.

Based on real life experiences of Linklater (specifically, the night he and the woman he just met wandered around the city of Philadelphia and talked until the sun came up), the first film, Before, 1995, aptly titled Before Sunrise, begins on a European train and introduces us to Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy). The two leave Budapest and, after striking up a conversation, both impulsively get off the train in Vienna, walking around the gorgeous Austrian capital and talking about life, love, art and everything else. So how did a film on such a small scale become a trilogy, and what’s the correct order (since none of the titles have numbers to help you navigate)? The order for your edification is Until Sunrise, Until Sunset, and Until Midnight, but let me go into a little more detail about what each film entails … and why there’s a nine-year gap between each of Linklater’s films. “Yes”.

After spending the night and early morning together in Vienna in Before Sunrise, Jesse and Celine are forced to part ways as Celine has to return to Paris to see her grandmother (and go back to school), but the two make a pact and decide to meet at the at the station in Vienna six months later. Unfortunately, as we learn in Before Sunset , that doesn’t happen; in the 2004 sequel, we meet again with Jesse and Celine in Paris, as the former reads from his latest book at the city’s famous bookstore Shakespeare & Co., and Celine, who lives in Paris, attends the reading (much to Jesse’s surprise). (Also, the book in question, This Time , tells the story of their night in Vienna.) As the two ex-lovers explore another European capital, viewers learn that Celine framed Jesse all those years ago and that he was waiting in Vienna for her—even though he lies at first and says he wasn’t lying either. (Céline’s grandmother died, forcing her to stay in Paris.)

Although Jesse is married with a child and Celine is dating a journalist in Paris, their bond is as strong as ever, and when it’s time for Jesse to head to the airport and fly back to America, he instead finds himself in Celine’s apartment. The two don’t head to the airport, proving that nine years after they first met, Jesse and Celine’s bond is unstoppable. In keeping with the nine years between Until Sunrise and Until Sunset, there was also a third film, Until Midnight, set nine years after the previous entry in the trilogy.

While “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset” offer a stunningly romantic and sublime look at courtship, “Before Midnight,” set nine years after Jesse misses his flight at Celine’s apartment, is a much brighter look. for the couple’s life together. By the time “Before Midnight” begins, Jesse and Celine are parents to twin girls — while Jesse tries to maintain a relationship with his son from his first marriage, Hank (Seamus Davy-Fitzpatrick), who lives in Chicago with his mother . Hank leaves Jesse, Celine and the girls in Greece at the start of the movie and heads home as they both wrestle with some huge life decisions, including what’s next for Celine’s career…and when Jesse proposes to their family just moving to Chicago to be Closer to Hank, a huge fight breaks out that seems like it’s been years in the making.

Before Midnight is a raw, unflinching look at what’s going on after “happily ever after” and it’s absolutely worth watching; Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, who also co-wrote all three Before films with Richard Linklater, are wonderful as their self-made, lived-in characters who love each other but find themselves at odds. So, will there ever be a fourth Before movie? Linklater noted that it was possiblebut for now, fans have three perfect movies to watch (in the right order).