Ali is a Muslim from Azerbaijan who lives in the oil-rich city of Baku, in the family's Shirvanshir Palace.

Ali is injured during the fight and escapes to Dagestan to heal and hide out from Malik's powerful Nachararyan family.

Despite aristocratic childhoods, simple country life suits the newlyweds and they find true happiness.

It holds a 40% rating on the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes from a sample of 10 critics.

[10] The Los Angeles Times said, "Kapadia treats intimacy like exposition — time-passage updates mark every scene — leaving his leads to flounder against backdrops.

[13] Ken Jaworowski of The New York Times said that "[the film], adapted by Christopher Hampton (Atonement [and] Dangerous Liaisons) and shot in Azerbaijan and Turkey, rarely chooses a complex emotion when a straightforward one will do, though it does seek out ornate and grand images.

"[14] Ali and Nino was screened at the Sundance Film Festival where it was reviewed by Peter Debruge of the Variety Magazine, who said that "in this uneven return to fiction filmmaking, 'Amy' director Asif Kapadia struggles to convey the sense of tragedy that has made his documentaries so powerful".