It’s hard to make just one great film, even harder to make a sequel and make it better, and harder still to make a third film and make it better than the previous two. Before Midnight pulls off this feat, but was that really surprising? After being floored by Before Sunset, I was eagerly anticipating Before Midnight. What I got was the quality I expected but the deeply rich story I did not. What makes Before Midnight so damn good is that the stakes have been raised much higher. In Before Sunrise, they were two kids with no commitment to one another. In Before Sunset they’re two successful adults but still with no commitment to each other. In Before Midnight, that all changes. Jesse and Celine are now married with two twin daughters. If that isn’t involved and commuted to one another, I don’t know what is. It’s a film that I think truly tackles and shows what marriage is, something I think many films on this matter lack. Before Midnight doesn’t show marriage as a constant joy and beauty but rather a complicated relationship with many ups and just as many downs. Before Midnight, however, is still structured incredibly similar to the first two. Long takes of Jesse and Celine just in conversation about anything and everything. The genius of this is that we get to know these characters so well, their hopes, dreams, failures. No stone is left unturned. The end also doesn’t leave us with the easy way out. That may just be why Before Midnight is so good: it refuses to let you have the easy answer.