The Before Trilogy: Jesse & Celine's Real Story Will Make You Cry

The first film in the "Before" trilogy by Richard Linklater, 1995's "Before Sunrise," features only two performers — Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke — as Jesse and Céline, two travelers who meet on a train in Europe and decide to spend a day together wandering Vienna (even though Celine is meant to continue on the train and head to Paris). The intimate, introspective film focuses solely on the bond formed between these two young, beautiful strangers, leading up to a moment where they finally end up sharing a kiss (and potentially more, though Linklater's careful direction provides some ambiguity on that point). As they both depart, they agree to meet again in Vienna after six months, but they have no way to contact each other before then.

As Linklater has revealed in various interviews throughout the years — helpfully compiled in a Slate article written by Forrest Wickman in 2014 — this was based on a real experience. In 1989, Linklater, having just finished his movie "Slacker," went to Philadelphia to visit his sister and met a woman named Amy Lehrhaupt, and the two wandered the city, talking all night. While speaking to host Jeff Goldsmith on his podcast "The Q&A" in May 2013 Linklater said that he actually told Lehrhaupt he felt inspired in the moment. "Even as that experience was going on ... I was like, 'I'm gonna make a film about this.'" he recalled. "And she was like, 'What, this? What're you talking about?' And I was like, 'Just this. This feeling. This thing that's going on between us.'"

Sadly, Linklater later learned that Lehrhaupt died in 1994 in a motorcycle accident before turning 25; as a result, the trilogy's final film "Before Midnight" is dedicated to her memory.

It is, for so many reasons, gutting that Amy Lehrhaupt passed away at such a young age under such tragic circumstances — so it's understandable that Richard Linklater was devastated when he learned the news. Speaking to The Times, Linklater said that Lehrhaupt's sister got in touch with him after hearing the story behind "Before Sunrise" and told him about the accident. "It was very sad," he told the outlet.

Linklater also revealed elsewhere that he always secretly hoped Lehrhaupt might come back into his life thanks to the film that she inspired. In an interview with The New York Times in 2004 with his stars (and co-writers) Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, Linklater said that he knew that his evening with Lehrhaupt would make an incredible movie, which it ultimately did, but that he always wondered if she might seek him out.

"You know, the very first movie was made — I mean, my acorn of an idea way back then was, I met this woman in Philadelphia," Linklater said as the three discussed "Before Sunset," the trilogy's second movie. "And we spent a night walking around. And it was great. And I was thinking, ”This could be a movie.' Filmmaker's curse. I'm walking around going, 'If I could just capture this feeling I'm having right now,' instead of actually having that feeling. But I always thought maybe she would show up at a 'Before Sunrise' screening or something. She never did. But I always expected, 'Oh, hi, I'm Amy. Remember me?' It would be so weird."

Ultimately, Richard Linklater and Amy Lehrhaupt's magical night in Philadelphia inspired a trio of intensely personal, emotionally raw films featuring Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke — which is a testament to her memory, if nothing else. In 2004, the trio worked together once again on "Before Sunset," where Delpy's Céline and Hawke's Jesse meet again, this time in Paris. Jesse is on tour promoting his successful new novel — which, in a meta twist, is based on the first film — and Céline lives in the French capital, and it's revealed that they never met up in Vienna again, because Céline's grandmother was sick and the situation prevented the young woman from traveling. (Jesse pretends that he also didn't return but later admits that he did and was heartbroken.) After a day together in Paris, Jesse is supposed to board a flight home to his wife and child but misses his flight, staying with Céline.

Nine years later — all three of the movies, as a matter of fact, take place after a nine year break — Linklater, Delpy, and Hawke closed out Jesse and Céline's story with 2013's "Before Midnight." (Both "Sunset" and "Midnight" earned screenplay nominations at their respective Oscar ceremonies.) In the third movie, the two are married with twin daughters — and Jesse still struggles to parent his child from his first marriage, Hank (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick). Despite devastating fights and cracks in their marriage, Jesse and Céline realize that even though their love is flawed, it's real to them. Something genuinely incredible came from Linklater's chance meeting with Lehrhaupt, and it makes the trilogy especially touching ... and tragic.