My favorite of the three films

Rating: 10/10 (4 May 2020)

This is a film that many people relate to, but most who relate to it will be ashamed to admit it. It's unconventionally romantic, emotionally complex, and much too real at times.
One of the reasons why I love this film is it's difficult to deal with. You find yourself wanting what they want, yet you know you shouldn't. It's as if we all become the characters the moment the film starts and we are taken on a journey of deep existential and moral questions. We know the answer to the moral questions, but we pretend we don't know. We pretend Jesse and Celine are the heroes we are rooting for to win, but we know they are the villains of the story.
While Before Sunrise was an innocent movie about two young people with innocent and pure intentions, Before Sunset is about how the same people are now impure and not innocent. They are manipulative from the very beginning, manipulating themselves and the whole situation, but their passion and love is the same as in the first movie.
This is an incredibly sexy movie about two people; one is up to no good and she knows it deep down, and the other is a dirtbag who pretends to be an innocent good guy. But Linklater lets us pretend that they are both innocent for our own selfish benefit, then at the end we are left secretly shameful of what we've done. It's almost like we ourselves directed the story where it went and we are left feeling guilty that we did such a thing. However, it couldn't have happened any other way.
Jesse and Celine are good representations of humanity. Maybe once in a lifetime will someone have a passionate love like this, and Before Sunset shows us how we are often slaves to that passion. It's appeals to the 15-year-old in us even though we are now 30 years old.
It sounds like I'm down on the film, but all of these complexities are why I love it.