All 3 Before Movies Are Masterpieces, but One Is Untouchable

Back in 1989, filmmaker Richard Linklater—one of the biggest contemporary champions of American indie cinema—met a woman named Amy Lehrhaupt in a toy shop in Philadelphia. They walked around the city and spent an unforgettable night together, and although they tried to keep their relationship alive after they had to part ways, distance caused them to drift apart and their romance to fade. Linklater made Before Sunrise, a drama about two young travelers who meet on a train and decide to spend one night together in Vienna, in commemoration of the remarkable night he had spent with Lehrhaupt, thus sparking the birth of the Before Trilogy. For years, Linklater hoped that Lehrhaupt would see his movies and find some way to contact him. Finally, in 2010, a friend of hers found a way to contact Linklater and let him know that Amy had died in a motorcycle accident in 1994, months before filming on Before Sunrise even began. This profoundly sad backstory serves as the background of one of the most poignant and bittersweet romance movie trilogies ever.