Session Three

We’ll be discussing:

️ Before Midnight (2013)

Theme: Time, Marriage, and Erosion of Idealism

• Explores how love evolves over decades, especially within long-term partnership.
• Focuses on communication breakdown, resentment, and emotional labor.
• Examines the tension between romantic idealism and real-world responsibilities (parenting, aging, regret).
• Set in real time; argument scenes feel authentic and unresolved.

Contrast:

• Unlike the others, it shows a mature relationship under stress, not one forming or falling apart.
• No romantic arc—just the aftermath of years of love and compromise.

Blue Valentine (2010)

Theme: The Fragility of Passion and the Illusion of Rescue

• Cross-cuts between the euphoric beginnings of love and its disintegration.
• Explores how initial chemistry can’t save a relationship without growth.
• Highlights emotional stasis, gender roles, and unhealed wounds.
• Raw and emotionally intimate—love doesn’t always conquer all.

Contrast:

• More emotionally intense and volatile than Before Midnight.
• Whereas Crossing Delancey leans on warmth, this leans on emotional deterioration.

Crossing Delancey (1988)

Theme: Tradition vs. Independence in Modern Romance

• Centers on a single woman choosing between romantic fantasy and grounded partnership.
• Juxtaposes Old World values (matchmaking, family roots) with contemporary self-reliance.
• Explores how love can be found in unexpected, modest, enduring forms.
• Emphasizes kindness, emotional availability, and seeing someone clearly.

Contrast:

• The most hopeful and gentle of the three.
• Doesn’t dwell on disillusionment, but on choosing sincerity over fantasy.
• Opposes Blue Valentine‘s pain and Before Midnight’s weary realism with quiet optimism.

Quick Summary Table

Let me know if you’d like quotes, scene suggestions, or discussion questions for each film.