DVD & Blu-ray review: Before Midnight (15)

Richard Linklater DVD (109mins)

The verbose lovers grow up in the third segment of this unlikely trilogy. Whereas the second film, Before Sunrise, left you elated, this one leaves you a little desolate. Fortysomethings Jesse and Celine (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) are in the final stages of a Greek getaway. Jesse feels guilty for the son he abandoned in America; Celine is anxious about whether to take her “dream job”. There's some spikiness in the first two acts, but it's in the powerful third act that we get to the guts of their relationship, and it's painful to watch.