Win Tickets to See Before Midnight

The couple at the centre of relationship dramedy Before Midnight is one we know oddly well, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy). In a typically Gen X act of slacker romanticism, they spent one night walking and talking around Vienna in 1995's Before Sunrise and were finally reunited for a further afternoon in Paris in 2004's Before Sunset.

In the nine years since, it turns out they've stuck with each other, but the insouciance of those early encounters has gone now they're into their early forties. "When was the last time we just walked around bullshitting?" Jesse says in one beautifully self-aware moment, as they rediscover the pastime on holiday in Greece.

With this series of films, dialogue is everything. In Before Midnight, it sparkles, dances and defies the bounds we expect of film. All three instalments are the product of a unique collaborative partnership between director Richard Linklater, Hawke and Delpy; from the start the actors have written parts of their own selves into the characters, and the possibility for honest exploration seems to have deepened with the passing of time.

Before Midnight is in cinemas on Thursday, July 18, and thanks to Hopscotch Films, we have ten double in-season passes to give away to. To be in the running, sign up to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email [email protected] with your name and address. Read our full review of Before Midnight here.