Caramel - film review
Layale, Nisrine and Rima work in a Beirut beauty salon. The fabric of their lives is interwoven around various personal relationships, the flow of customers through their salon, and their neighbour 'Tante' Rose (a seamstress).
Pursuing generally liberal lifestyles, each woman bumps up against the more traditional elements of Lebanese society. Scenes of Nisrine (soon to be married) visiting Dr Stambouli for a couple of stitches to restore her virginity in preparation for the wedding night are carefully juxtaposed with shots of Rose, busy at her sewing machine. Sensual imagery of Rima washing the hair of a beautiful female customer emphasises her suppressed sexuality. Layale spends much of her work day either arranging or undertaking illicit liaisons with her married lover. In this way an uneasy accommodation between secular lifestyles and traditional beliefs in the Levant is portrayed, whilst evoking the feel of the Near East and showcasing the ancient and still-beautiful city of Beirut.
The caramel of the title refers to the sugary concoction cooked up in the salon for use as a depilatory, and its deployment leads to a few 'sharp-intake-of-breath' moments for male and female viewer alike. Caramel the film is a charming, gentle, amusing work that deserves a wide audience.
Essential viewing.