Beyond Paradise

About the movie

Destiny weaves a love triangle: Shahrzad (Francia Raisa), a ravishing music student, her husband Sean (Max Amini), a rising stand-up comedian, and Sebastian (Ryan Guzman), a poetic Spanish-American gardener. Caught in the middle is Shahrzad's piano teacher, Elana (Daphne Zuniga), a former screen femme fatale, who is having her own furtive affair with Sebastian. Soon Sebastian falls in love with Shahrzad. Shahrzad discovers her convenience marriage with Sean is doomed. Unexpectedly, a friendship flourishes between Shahrzad (Muslim) and her piano teacher Elana (Jewish), nourished by their passion for classical music, especially Tchaikovsky's. It grows stronger when they learn of each other's secret tragedies. Shahrzad attracts the attention of two women, Elana and Parisa, her mother-in-law. Simultaneously, Shahrzad becomes the object of desire for three men: Sebastian, Sean, and Ray (Misha Crosby), the loner, young brother-in-law. Infusing the young lovers' secret romance are Rumi's ecstatic poems and Lorca's mysterious poetry that drive Sebastian in pursuit of Shahrzad, inflaming a passion that threatens to destroy everything.—Zoya Skya