Love Beyond Dreams

Stifled by the trappings of parenthood and their diminishing intimacy, Simin (Simin Vaswani, who also writes and produces) is taken for an art gallery date by her husband Harish (played by real life partner Harish Vaswani) in an attempt to inject some much-needed spark back into their marriage. After becoming completely entranced with one painting in particular, Simin is whisked away into an extraordinary dream world filled with romance and dancing where she embarks on journey of rediscovery for her passion and love for Harish.

Love Beyond Dreams’ main strength is undoubtedly in its presentation, a tremendous amount of care and attention is brought to every scene but where it really outdoes itself is in the film’s core dream sequence, which is the part it had to nail and absolutely does. As Simin is swept around the dancefloor by Stefan Badea’s effortlessly debonair Antoine, we ourselves are swept away by the fantastical wonder that director Jeremiah Kipp, cinematographer Dominick Sivilli and the rest of this highly talented creative team conjure up. Complementing the beautiful imagery, the lighting and colour palettes really bolster that ethereal dream-like feel and then it’s the soaring score that caps everything off almost perfectly, fewer shots of a doe-eyed Simin staring longingly and endlessly at things might have helped keep the pace of the film a bit better and perhaps the film should have been allowed to speak on its own as well without the unnecessary voiceover.

But the brilliantly executed dance sequence definitely evokes glowing comparisons to big screen examples such as La La Land and other Hollywood musical classics, it’s a sequence that is made even more electric by the stellar work done by the two leads tasked with the gargantuan responsibility of selling it. The chemistry between Simin and Antoine (Badea) is positively palpable, something that really stands in stark contrast (as is intended) against the much more inhibited connection between Simin and Harish when we first meet them but which of course relights itself once a reinvigorated Simin comes back to reality.

And whether it’s intentional or not (and I for one am willing to believe it is), Love Beyond Dreams could leave you with many different interpretations as to exactly what story it’s telling, which makes the films exploration of the complexity of human nature that much more nuanced and interesting. Yes, on the surface, Simin’s journey might simply speak to a desire for her current life to be one filled with greater passion, but maybe it’s instead a yearning for a different life entirely she wished she had taken, or maybe even about a former lost love? For some that might be reading too much into it but such is the strength in how Love Beyond Dreams is presented that you can’t shake the feeling like that there might just be that bit more under the surface to dissect, and each viewer might end up taking some idea of their own away at the end of it all.

Love Beyond Dreams is a film swelling with highly commendable work, real emotion and depth.