As tasty and
bathed in golden hues as its title, Caramel is the auspicious feature debut of director
Nadine Labaki, who uses the pivot point of a Beirut
beauty salon to gently investigate the lives, loves,
and neuroses of five very different women. For these
Lebanese ladies, each restricted in some way by
societal and religious mores, it's tough to be strong
and independent. The only way to do it, argues Labaki, is to
do it together.
The director
herself plays the salon's owner, Layale, whose affair with a
married man is threatened when the man's wife comes in for a
waxing (administered via a gob of hot caramel). She's
not the only one bumping up against romantic
obstacles, though -- coworker Rima (Joanna Moukarzel)
works out her attraction to women by washing their hair,
while sassy Nisrine (Yasmine Al Masri), engaged to be
married, frets that her devout new husband will notice
she's not exactly a virgin. As if that weren't enough,
aging actress Jamale (Gisele Aouad) -- who plays a
frequent client of the salon -- is so desperate to
appear young that she's begun faking period stains,
quite unlike the ladies' older friend Rose (Siham
Haddad), who has resigned herself to a life of taking care
of her batty, screeching sister.
While that might
seem like quite a bit of story, Labaki (who also cowrote
the screenplay) isn't all that interested in advancing plot.
Few of the story lines progress very much over the
course of the movie -- even Rima, who develops a
strong flirtation with an attractive customer, never acts
on it (though she does give the woman a really great
haircut). Instead, the director is interested in mood
and character, attributes that Caramel delivers in
spades.
Labaki finished
shooting her film in July 2006, only days before war
broke out with Israel, and her Lebanon is a gorgeous,
enticing place that worships its kohl-eyed women but
suppresses their natures at the same time. Labaki
tweaks those rules subtly, but even if her characters
occasionally submit to them, they still broadcast a
rebellious streak that's as bold as a brand-new look.