This love story, encompassing a relationship over decades in Beirut, is at times funnier than you would expect, but also very touching, and grounded in reality. In fact, A Sad and Beautiful World may be the most appropriate film title ever. Playing at London Film Festival.
Mounia Akl is something of a wonder. She takes centre stage in the documentary Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano, recorded by Cyril Aris on the difficult making of her first directorial feature Costa Brava, Lebanon which won the Audience Award at 2021’s London Film Festival. And now here she is starring in a narrative feature by the same Cyril Aris, and she is captivating.
Akl plays Yasmine, a young woman who reconnects with her childhood sweetheart Nino (Hasan Akil) when they are both adults, and who instantly reconnect. Despite growing up in Beirut in war time, their puppy love is sweet, simple and genuine, but ends abruptly when one of them must leave Beirut following a parental split. The other is left bewildered, and with their own family loss to deal with, both move on in life.
When they reconnect as adults, Nino and Yasmine immediately fall head over heels for each other again, and there are blissful on-screen sequences that capture those heady moments when you’re actually falling in love with someone – I was reminded of the staircase run in The Cranes are Flying, and some moments of Wong Kar Wai; they were that beautiful. Mounia Akl and Hasan Akil have amazing chemistry together, and their scenes are utterly believable – the no-nonsense business woman is immediately bowled over by the cheeky-chappie chef with his soft smile.
But as the film’s title suggests, the world is not all beautiful, and the sadness that each of them experienced as children has a longer-lasting effect on both of their lives than they would ever imagine. Jumping in to the future, they are determined not to make the same mistakes as previous generations, but the struggle is real. Is life pre-determined? How much are we the product of our past? And can we change that?
A Sad and Beautiful World warrants a viewing without too much advanced knowledge, but just know that the title tells you everything you need to know, and that I will be seeking out work by Mounia Akl and Cyril Aris in the years to come.
A Sad and Beautiful World plays in the Love strand of London Film Festival 2025.
This love story, encompassing a relationship over decades in Beirut, is at times funnier than you would expect, but also very touching, and grounded in reality. In fact, A Sad and Beautiful World may be the most appropriate film title ever. Playing at London Film Festival.
Mounia Akl is something of a wonder. She takes centre stage in the documentary Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano, recorded by Cyril Aris on the difficult making of her first directorial feature Costa Brava, Lebanon which won the Audience Award at 2021’s London Film Festival. And now here she is starring in a narrative feature by the same Cyril Aris, and she is captivating.
Akl plays Yasmine, a young woman who reconnects with her childhood sweetheart Nino (Hasan Akil) when they are both adults, and who instantly reconnect. Despite growing up in Beirut in war time, their puppy love is sweet, simple and genuine, but ends abruptly when one of them must leave Beirut following a parental split. The other is left bewildered, and with their own family loss to deal with, both move on in life.
When they reconnect as adults, Nino and Yasmine immediately fall head over heels for each other again, and there are blissful on-screen sequences that capture those heady moments when you’re actually falling in love with someone – I was reminded of the staircase run in The Cranes are Flying, and some moments of Wong Kar Wai; they were that beautiful. Mounia Akl and Hasan Akil have amazing chemistry together, and their scenes are utterly believable – the no-nonsense business woman is immediately bowled over by the cheeky-chappie chef with his soft smile.
But as the film’s title suggests, the world is not all beautiful, and the sadness that each of them experienced as children has a longer-lasting effect on both of their lives than they would ever imagine. Jumping in to the future, they are determined not to make the same mistakes as previous generations, but the struggle is real. Is life pre-determined? How much are we the product of our past? And can we change that?
A Sad and Beautiful World warrants a viewing without too much advanced knowledge, but just know that the title tells you everything you need to know, and that I will be seeking out work by Mounia Akl and Cyril Aris in the years to come.
A Sad and Beautiful World plays in the Love strand of London Film Festival 2025.
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