In Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise (1995) two young lovers the American Jesse (Ethan
Hawke) and the Frenchwoman Celine (Julie Delphy) meet on a train travelling across Europe and
spend a magical night together in Vienna before parting at dawn. Filmed in nine-year intervals
the film's sequels Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013) forge an unexpected trilogy
brimming with longing second chances and resentments as the couple meet again and build a
relationship. Lucas Hilderbrand reflects on the experience of falling in love with living
with and having one's own life shaped by the Before trilogy. Tracing the story of the films'
production he considers the contribution of the leading actors particularly Delphy to their
screenplays. He offers a close reading of each of the Before films considering the extent to
which they operate beyond the generic norms of romantic comedy or melodrama incorporating
aspects of realism and emotional authenticity through their location shooting long takes and
near-real time temporality. Treating the films as time capsules of their respective historical
moments Hilderbrand considers how evolving politics and technologies impact or interrupt the
characters' intimacy while placing the trilogy in conversation with other films. All the while
he pays attention to the trilogy's subjective impact on viewers across its eighteen-year
timespan - and its continuing afterglow.
