Love Hurts, a Lot — The True Story Behind Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy Is One of the Saddest Things You’ll Ever Hear
Writer-director Richard Linklater had his own Before trilogy moment, which led to the making of Before Sunrise.
The Before trilogy, consisting of three romantic dramas by Richard Linklater, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight, tracks a relationship between two lovers across three decades, from their initial meet-cute as idyllic and hopelessly romantic twentysomethings to their tumultuous marriage as middle-aged people. Each film, told with poetic and elegant storytelling, utilizing time and place with emotional resonance, is equally brilliant, and all together, they make up what is arguably the finest trilogy in cinematic history. The true magic behind this triptych love story starring Ethan Hawkeas Jesse and Julie Delpyas Céline is its sense of the ordinary. While deeply philosophical and probing, nothing about this fantastical meeting of two strangers who strike a romance in Vienna is Hollywood-ized. Linklater based the first movie from 1995 on an actual occasion where he serendipitously met the woman of his dreams, but this beautiful moment ended on a shockingly somber note.
