It is hard for a modern film to really capture the essence of love and marriage. Too often it seems contemporary tales of romance with a real heft to them are eschewed in favor of playing it light and fluffy. 

What is most compelling to watch is two people who clearly love one another experience a roller coaster of emotions and act like genuine human beings with real issues. 

Such is this in Richard Linklater’s cap to the “Before Trilogy.” By gosh, he ended it on a high note. 

The film follows a couple played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as they enjoy their vacation in Greece with kids in tow and baggage to spare. These two actors bring such chemistry and realism, and even though they helped with the script, I still cannot grasp how they make their relationship seem so real. 

One moment you are watching them sit at a table with a fellow intellectual, musing about the meaning of love and marriage, and the next they are walking alongside some breathtaking natural landscapes. 

If your goal is to watch a movie where everything is warm and fuzzy, then I highly encourage you to run fast in the other direction. 

But if, like me, you savor a well thought-out, dialogue-driven story about true love and all its messy complications, I cannot recommend this film more highly.