Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy star in "Before Midnight" (Sony Pictures Classics).

In "Before Midnight," director Richard Linklater once again delivers a conversation-based film following the relationship between Julie Delpy’s Celine and Ethan Hawke’s Jesse.

The two characters previously met after a chance encounter on a Vienna-bound bus in 1995’s "Before Sunrise," and reconnected in the 2004 sequel "Before Sunset" in Paris. Now, they are embarking on a family vacation in Greece. 

"Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset" painted a naively romantic portrait of two young lovers navigating foreign countries together for the duration of a single evening. "Before Midnight" turns this fantasy of a contained and idealistic love on its head-stripping the protagonists of their time-constrained, love-affair dynamic and instead catapulting them into the suffocating grip of reality. 

Where the previous two films explored a philosophical flirtation between two strangers, "Before Midnight" profiles what happens when the realities of life and the trials of time are introduced to the relationship.

Treading into the unforgiving waters of reality allows "Before Midnight" to tackle issues to which we all can relate. Particularly, the interplay between fidelity, sacrifice, technology, time, and love.  

At its core, the film is an exploration of love. Real, gritty, imperfect – true love. And it is this that makes the film so special.

Every aspect of the film from its conception to its reception has been laced with passion and fueled by heart, and this is what comes through on screen. The trilogy has indeed matured alongside its main characters making this arguably the best yet of the three "Before" films.

With a well-developed, insightful script, actors who thoroughly know and love their characters, and a mutual respect between film and viewer, "Before Midnight" is a slice of reality that will touch, provoke and ultimately stick with its audience far longer than one night.

"Before Midnight" was released in theaters on May 24. Check out the trailer below.

Reach Staff Reporter Alicia Dewell here.