As the 24th Pune International Film Festival continues to bring global conflicts to the local screen, the Lebanese feature A Sad and Beautiful World has emerged as a poignant highlight. Directed by Cyril Aris, the film is a wistful, exploration of a romance that refuses to be extinguished by the perpetual instability of Beirut.
Akil told the audience about the film and the living conditions of many in Lebanon, explaining how the film uses love and humor as a shield against the backdrop of conflict.
We live in a country where social instability is always visible
Hasan Akil
The film weaves a story that is as poetic as it is tragic, following Nino (Hasan Akil) and Yasmina (Mounia Akl), born in the same Beirut hospital on the same day, just one minute apart, while war rages outside. From the very start, it feels as if the universe conspires to keep them together, threading their lives through three decades of Lebanon’s turbulent history.
Nino, “The optimist,” shaped by the loss of his parents, clings to an enduring hope, believing in a “paradisiacal island” that serves as a spiritual refuge amid chaos.
Yasmina, the realist, is a self-described “worrywart” whose outlook has been hardened by her parents’ separation, constantly anticipating the worst-case scenario.
Their relationship embodies an “opposites-attract” dynamic, tender yet fraught, as they navigate the personal consequences of living in a country in decline.
Director Cyril Aris conveys their journey with propulsive visual energy, using collage-like editing and a kinetic camera to capture the collapse of Lebanon’s economy and the heartbreak of mass migration. Yet beneath the cinematic sweep, the film’s emotional core lies in the tension between personal choice and geopolitical force.
Nino and Yasmina are confronted with the reality that even the most intimate domestic decisions are inseparable from the larger currents of history. The motif of the glistening water’s shore, once a childhood fantasy, gradually transforms into a search for a safe haven on earth; a place where hope and survival intersect in a world that seems determined to test them.
