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Caramel

Middle Eastern chick flick portrays humanity over headlines

By Geoff Berkshire

Metromix
February 1, 2008

Critic's Rating:

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Five Lebanese women of varying ages and religious and social backgrounds are connected by a beauty salon where they work or visit regularly. Each has a unique situation: Layale (Nadine Labaki, who also directed and co-wrote) is having an affair with a married man, Nisrine is afraid her fiancé will discover she's not a virgin, Rima is a closeted lesbian, Jamale refuses to accept she's in menopause and Rose, the eldest, has spent her life caring for an eccentric sister.

Big question: Is Lebanon's official entry for Oscar consideration in the foreign language film category anything more than a Beirut-set "Steel Magnolias"?

Catch it: This low-key examination of women's lives gently exposes another side of a culture and country known more for  headline-making wars than sensitive filmmaking. An impressive showcase for the strikingly beautiful Labaki's many talents, it also fills a void left by Hollywood's shallow pool of subject matter.

Skip it: If you're still having phantom pains from the chest waxing scene in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." The title comes from the blend of sugar, lemon, juice and water that is boiled into caramel and used to remove unwanted body hair in Middle Eastern salons.

Bottom line: "Caramel" could've used a touch of Pedro Almodóvar's trademark audacity and suffers somewhat from an inequity in its storylines—Rima is especially short shrifted while Labaki's Layale dominates the movie. Fortunately this isn't a vanity project, Labaki proves she's strong enough to carry the film.

Bonus: Labaki was already an established commercial and music video director in the Middle East before turning to feature films with this project, which she completed at the age of 32.