Ayat Ayat Cinta 2

(★★✩✩✩)

IN this beautifully-shot romantic Indonesian movie, university professor Fahri (Fedi Nuril) lives a quiet life with his assistant in Edinburgh, Scotland. H e exudes a friendly, positive demeanour but inside he is wrestling with the tragic possibility that his beloved wife Aisha may have been killed during a humanitarian mission in Palestine.

While he is hopeful for her return, Fahri meets H ulya (Tatjana Saphira), another woman who seems eager to cure his broken heart. If Aisha were still alive, then she wouldn’t like hearing how everyone else in Fahri’s life was falling in love with him thanks to his never-ending acts of kindness.

What is love without sacrifice? Ayat Ayat Cinta 2 answers that question by telling a slow-moving, generally placid story about people who must forsake part of themselves just to give their loved ones a happy ending. Call it a grand gesture of love but I’d like to think of it as a misguided attempt that borders on self-torture.

There are other aspects about Ayat Ayat Cinta 2 that I wish could have been different – a woman’s looks should not be the reason why she gives up on her marriage.

It’s also unsettling at how this movie presents Fahri as an allround perfect guy. I needed to see some flaws in him. Does he pick his nose in public? Is he obsessed with rumours about Kylie Jenner’s pregnancy? Just anything really, that would’ve made me want to emphatise with him.

Ayat Ayat Cinta 2 is a baffling movie that presents a lot of unrealistic expectations about love.

It’s just a tad better than the Twilight series. Approach with caution. – AY