The Before Trilogy consists of three American romance films directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.
The characters also make cameo appearances in Linklater's animated anthology film Waking Life (2001).
Contrasting ideas and perspectives on life and love are detailed, with the series referencing time, self-discovery, age, loss, and parentage; it is considered an exploration of postmodern romance.
The films were distributed by Sony Pictures (under their Columbia and Classics labels for the first and third films)[b] and Warner Bros. Pictures (under its Independent label for the second only), while all three were produced by Castle Rock Entertainment; Before Midnight was also produced by Venture Forth and Linklater's production company, Detour Filmproduction.
Before Midnight takes place nine years after the second film, and is set in a single day on the Peloponnese coast in Greece.
It was half of a bad idea that went around and we were like, ‘Let’s not do it.’”[6] Before Sunrise was inspired by a woman whom Richard Linklater met in a toy shop in Philadelphia in 1989.
[7] Due to the prevalence of dialogue, Linklater opted to collaborate on the screenplay with Kim Krizan, who previously appeared in his films Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993).
[7] According to Linklater, "her mind [is] a constant stream of confident and intelligent ideas",[8] as they talked about the film's concept and characters; only discussing an outline, the screenplay was written in 11 days.
After hiring Julie Delpy, Linklater asked them to read together in Austin, Texas, then deciding they were right for the roles.
[11][8] In 2016, Delpy told Creative Screenwriting she and Hawke performed uncredited rewrites, stating "the original screenplay [lacked] romance.
His proposal did not secure funding, so he scaled back the concept of the film,[13] with Hawke, Linklater, and Delpy working independently on their own screenplays over the years.
[16] As the summer was one of the hottest on record, the cast and crew suffered along with the city residents, as temperatures exceeded 100 degrees F (38 °C) for most of the production.
The site's critics consensus reads, "Thought-provoking and beautifully filmed, Before Sunrise is an intelligent, unabashedly romantic look at modern love, led by marvelously natural performances from Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.
"[27] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
[28] Film critic Roger Ebert gave Before Sunrise three out of four stars and described Julie Delpy as "ravishingly beautiful and, more important, warm and matter-of-fact, speaking English so well the screenplay has to explain it (she spent some time in the States)".
[33] In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, "Before Sunrise is as uneven as any marathon conversation might be, combining colorful, disarming insights with periodic lulls.
The site's critics consensus reads, "Filled with engaging dialogue, Before Sunset is a witty, poignant romance, with natural chemistry between Hawke and Delpy.
"[29] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 91 out of 100 based on 39 reviews from mainstream publications, indicating "universal acclaim".
But Before Sunset is better, perhaps because the characters are older and wiser, perhaps because they have more to lose (or win), and perhaps because Hawke and Delpy wrote the dialogue themselves.
The site's consensus is: "Building on the first two installments in Richard Linklater's well-crafted Before trilogy, Before Midnight offers intelligent, powerfully acted perspectives on love, marriage, and long-term commitment.
"[42] Perry Seibert of AllMovie also praised the film, writing: "The screenwriting trio fill the movie with long, discursive conversations (there are only two scenes in the first 20 minutes) that feel utterly improvised when they are performed, but are far too deftly structured to be anything other than the work of consummate artists.