Ranking Every Richard Linklater Film Worst To Best

I considered splitting Richard Linklater's romantic trilogy into its three chapters, as each film has something new and revealing to say. But to split them up individually would be a mistake. Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight are not three individual films, but a long and winding story about how relationships change, how fate can intervene with our lives, and how a single day can change all we think we know about others and ourselves.

This trilogy is extraordinary, charting the relationship of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) over three separate days, split over nearly two decades. First, they meet, and talk, and walk around Vienna, telling stories, sharing dreams and falling in love. The perfect and ambiguous will-they-won't-they of Before Sunrise's ending makes Before Sunset all the more impressive. Audiences didn't have to see how they grew, but Linklater managed to capture the magic and romance of that first film with striking results.

Before Midnight, too, more mature than its predecessors, stands as a startling film in its own right, painting a portrait of Jesse and Celine as a married couple, at odds with their lives but still very much that young couple who once walked Vienna.

The Before Trilogy is Linklater's masterpiece, highlighting his unrivalled ability to read people, write a compelling, natural story, and show off what makes cinema so enchanting.