moviereview - Caramel

CARAMEL

	The search for love and contentment occupies the minds of six women in Beiruit.	score 3+	moviereview rates films from 1 (unwatchable) to 5 (unmissable)
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Cast
Nadine Labaki, Yasmine Elmasri, Joanna Moukarzel, Gisele Aouad, Adel Karam

Director
Nadine Labaki

Screenwriter
Rodney El Haddad
Jihad Hojeily

Country
Lebanon / France (subtitles)

Rating / Running Time
M / 95 minutes

Australian Release
September 2008

Official Site

Billed as the Lebanese Steel Magnolias, Caramel is a delightfully sweet story set in a Beirut hairdressing salon. Although cultural and political ideologies inform the narrative, it differs from a majority of Middle Eastern movies in one significant way: there’s not a single gun in sight. Instead, it deals with universal issues closer to home, hearth and heart as six women strive to find love and happiness.

When applied to skin, caramel is a first-rate hair removal product - it’s also tasty, yet painful if used thoughtlessly. A bit like love really. It is a motif that underlines Labaki’s first feature, itself a major achievement that seduces with a gentle, intoxicating charm. A bit like caramel.

The film rotates around Layal who shares her time between the salon and a married man. Her colleagues are also conflicted: Nisrine wants her virginity back before her wedding; Jamal is faking menstruation while Rima can’t declare her lesbianism. Their aging friend Rose lives next door. Her last shot at companionship is compromised by obligations for Lila, an older, demented sister. These threads are neatly woven with day-to-day life in Beirut, and the responsibilities each face as friends, parents, daughters and sisters.

A passing nod to Romeo+Juliet shows that Caramel is well aware of the lineage of its storyline. Labaki elicits a refreshing honesty from non-professional actors as their character mounts the stage. She also engages unfamiliar aspects of Lebanese culture to colour the reality of the women’s backgrounds, like Nisrine’s hospital visit to get ‘stitched-up, as many girls do…’, or the unspoken sensuality of Rima’s relationship with an alluring client.

Humour saves occasional lapses in structure and tone, winningly channelled through Lila’s madness. Caramel is an endearing film that manages to be both heart-warming and heartbreaking. It’s a chick-flick with boy appeal; a foreign film that speaks a universal language.

// COLIN FRASER