Customer Reviews

Caramel

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

SUKKAR BANAT (CARAMEL) marks a fine directorial debut for the stunningly beautiful Lebanese actress Nadine Labaki. Though films about the private lives of a circle of women who gather in a mutual watering hole to gossip, share joys and pains of love affairs, as well as being the important support group they all need are plentiful (think STEEL MAGNOLIAS), few come as close to the intimacy shared by this talented cast whose disparate problems keep the film flying. The screenplay by Rodney El Haddad and Jihad Hojeily is greatly enhanced by the cinematography by Yves Sehnaoui with the atmospheric musical score by Khaled Mouzannar, but it is the impeccable cast that completes this tender, humorous, and gently sentimental little tale.

The film shows us a Lebanon we rarely see. The setting is a Beirut beauty salon La Belle owned by Layale (Nadine Labaki) whose frequent absences from her place of business are due to trysts with a married man, trysts often delayed by a police officer, the handsome and infatuated Youssef (Adel Karram). Working in the shop is Rima (Johanna Moukarzel) whose same sex infatuation with a beautiful patron is subtly explored, and regulars in the salon include an aging wannabe actress Jamale (Gisèle Aouad), a non virgin bride to be Nisrine (Yasmine Elmasri) and an older seamstress Rose (Sihame Haddad) who has elected to relinquish her hopes for love with a willing and potential elderly man Charles (Dimitri Staneofski) in favor of continuing to care for her humorously senile mother Lili (Aziza Semaan).

How these unforgettable characters interact, displacing each other's anxieties by caring friendship freely shared, offers each of these fine actresses many moments of glory in addition to creating a fine ensemble effect as sensitively directed by Nadine Labaki. This little film (in Arabic and French with subtitles) is a complete pleasure and will likely draw attention to future films from Lebanon. Grady Harp, July 08

"Caramel" is not what you'd expect of Lebanese filmmaking and in particular movies about that most troubled of their cities - Beirut. I found it touching, unbelievably insightful and genuinely romantic too - it's one of the loveliest watches I've had the pleasure of seeing in years.

The largely unknown cast is superb and each deserves specific mention:
NADINE LABAKI plays LAYALE - the sexy yet scatterbrained 35-year old owner of "Si Belle" - a salon that acts as emotion-central for co-workers and girlfriends. Layale is having a giddy but demeaning affair with a married man whom we never see except as a shadow in a car under a bridge - or hear him - as he honks his horn outside the premises for her to come running...

YASMINE AL MASRI plays NISRINE - one of Layale's best workers - the beautiful and young Nisrine is having doubts about her forthcoming marriage to BASSAM a headstrong modern man played by ISMAL ANTAR. Bassam is a man who will take on the oppressive state and even God rather than capitulate; Nisrine's also worried that Bassam might not want her should he find out about her less-than-virginal past

GISELE AOUAD plays JAMALE TARABAY - a customer and friend of the younger ladies. Jamale's mid to late 40's, an actress who is getting too old to nab the lucrative advert roles anymore and goes to sad and desperate lengths to stay young-looking.

JOANNA MOUKARZEL plays the slightly butch RIMA - a lowly washer of hair in the saloon who falls silently and breathlessly in love with a beautiful woman who walks in off the street one afternoon. She is played by FATME SAFA - and may even share with shy Rima the love that dares not speaks its name...

SIHAM HADDAD plays the stoical and ceaselessly loving ROSE (Rima's 60+ Aunt) who lives across the street from the salon in her haberdashery business. LILI, her even older sister (played to stunning perfection by AZIZA SEMAAN) is a mouthy old curmudgeon who picks up bits of paper off the streets and tells everyone there's a plane coming to take her and her lover away. Rose is driven to despair by Lili's increasingly difficult senility until one day a gentleman caller comes in for a suit alteration. His name is CHARLES played by a debonair DIMITRI STANCOFSKY - Charles says little, but his kind and warm glances reawaken a tenderness in Rose she'd long thought gone - and of course poses her with a horrible family conundrum....

ADEL KARAM plays YOUSSEF the parking-ticket Policeman who longs for Layale from a distance, but she is too busy screwing up her life to notice. Youssef is handsome, decent and right for her, if only Layale would stop sticking her tongue out at him...

FADIA STELLA plays the redheaded and lovely CHRISTINE KHOURI, wife of Rahid, the feckless husband we never see. She comes calling to "So Beautiful" for a free waxing one afternoon after a phone-call the previous day to her home by a sappily desperate Layale. Or perhaps Christine's there to size up the threat to her marriage and her lovely young daughter...

There are many other cameos and they're all excellent.

Nadine Labaki - the principal actress and director - co-wrote the script with RODNEY EL HADDAD and JIHAD HOJEILY. It's her 1st film and she could easily have shirked the undeniable downside of their world in order to make the film a more palatable package for Western viewers - but she doesn't. The eternal shame heaped on women by virtue of religious guilt in all things that they do - the double standards of the authorities - the legacy of war lingering malevolently in the background - all of is subtly woven into crucial scenes. Their lives are not given to you in a preachy or clichéd manner, but in a way that shows you just what a Middle Eastern woman has to cope with nowadays. They laugh like us, they cry, they triumph, they make their mistakes, take stock, get back up again - and try their damnedest to be modern in a world inextricably tied into a two-thousand year old past. Family acts as the bedrock - friends are cherished - and love - like in every society - is the simple and deeply sought after goal for all. It's a positive and refreshing film and a view of Beirut city life that you just don't ever see.

The script is full of deftly insightful stuff too - scenes that are just so funny, tender, sad, romantic: the kid under the family dinner table looking up Nisrine's skirt because she and Bassam were playing touchy-feely legs and he knows the woman can't rat him out; the tenderness between Charles and Rose as he quietly sugars her tea in his apartment after she's returned his altered gentleman's trousers; Jamale sat on a toilet using a bottle of ink on tissue paper to feign her still having youth; Rima's lovely face as she falls in love, softly washing the long flowing jet-black hair of a stunningly beautiful customer in the lean-back sink...her huge brown eyes as she looks back up at Rima....and smiles...

To effortlessly move from the old-world respect of the elderly couple to the sensual playfulness of the young lesbians in the salon is fantastic writing.

"Caramel" blew me away - it made me ache for these good people and their hopes and aspirations and dreams. But if you want real persuasion, there are FOUR nomination references on the DVD's rear sleeve, one of which is the WINNER of the AUDIENCE AWARD at the "San Sebastian Film Festival". Not the critics - not the industry insiders - the 'audience' award. That public knew a winner when they saw one.

Joy, pride and heart went into the making of this little foreign film (called "Sukkar Banat" in some territories) - and as the credits role and Nadine Labaki's dedication tells you the movie is "For My Beirut" - it's hard not to be impossibly moved.

Put "Caramel" high on your rental/to buy list. And then make a beeline for Mira Nair's "The Namesake" - another peach of a movie - cut with the same tenderness and grace.

PS: the title of this review is a lyric from a love song sung by Rima at Nisrine's wedding

Wow what can I say, I was really impressed by this. Caramel has got to be one of the best and most well-done films that I've ever seen come out of Lebanon. It's was wonderfully shot using the best cinematography in an Arabic film, the colors were very vibrant which shows all the great sights of Beirut. Caramel a.k.a. Sukkar Banat is the directorial debut of the stunningly beautiful actress Nadine Labaki who also co-wrote the script with Rodney El Haddad and Jihad Hojeily, the film revolves around the lives of five women working in and around a beauty salon in Beirut. Layale played by Nadine is caught up in an affair with a married man and obsessed with his unwitting wife, wanting to know what it is that always draws him back home.

And Nisrine (Yasmine Elmasri) is due to be married, but nervous about the potential consequences of her past indiscretions and also being Muslim causes alot more problems if her parents find out. Tomboyish Rima (Joanna Moukarzel), whose socially dangerous lesbian romance with a customer is portrayed entirely in metaphor - here are some of the great images and visuals of hairdressing you'll ever see. Jamale (Gisele Aouad) who is struggling to make a career as an actress and to convince everyone (including herself) that she's still young but is quite old and has two kids and one of them is a teenager, still has a few issues to deal with. And Rose, an aging seamstress whose devotion to her senile old sister has left her life pass her by and a chance to be with someone who she seems to be in love with.

Each character was interesting and unique in their own way, some Western viewers might not get some of the humor unless you know some Arabic culture but I definitely think that this film would appeal to a large audience, it doesn't matter where you come from cause it's definitely a very enjoyable film and it has universal themes of love, struggle and the mixing of modern society with older tradition and values and the acting was fantastic from all of the cast, some of whom weren't even professional actors. I really liked the characters especially Jamale who provided most of the humor as the aging wanna be actress. The film also reminded me of a time when I was a kid growing up in Jordan, Lebanon is kind of similar cause it has a large Christian population so you would see every passing store with pictures of the virgin Mary (That was before me and my family moved to Kuwait), it has to do with the Catholic imagery in the film, not everyone we follow in turn follows the same religion.

This film really brought back alot of memories from my youth, with the old apartment buildings and narrow streets which was kind of neat you can also see an obvious mixture of both cultures and religions in Lebanon, this film however stays away from most of the politics of the region and just focuses on the story. Anyway I'm not really a big fan of Romantic comedies or art house films and yet I must say I was quite impressed by this brilliant film, and it seemed to have more depth and meaning than your average romantic drama and comedy flick. I highly recommend this and two thumbs up.

This film presents a slice-of-life type drama/romantic comedy of five women in Beirut. Four of the women work in a hair salon, the fifth is a seamstress next door and aunt of one of the salon owners. We follow their ups and downs, their hopes and dreams. This a film about relationships and about friendship and about choices. We learn about the relationships between all the women and the ups and downs in their love lives. The love lives of all five women is complicated in some way. The main character Layale (played by Nadine Labaki, who also wrote and directed the film) is in love with a man who is married to another women. She goes through all sorts of machinations for this man, but in the end, he doesn't really love her and won't leave his wife. One of the women is a Muslim and soon to be married. Her lack of virginity may be a problem on her wedding day. One of the women is a lesbian who is attracted to one of the customers at the salon, and the fourth woman is older and divorced with kids but actively looking for romance. Layale's aunt lives next door and meets an American to whom she is attracted. There is really a lot to like about this film. Each of the women must make choices about their relationships and live with the consequences one way or the other. Some of these choices work out well, others not so good. Through it all though is their friendship for each other. This film also presents an interesting insight into daily life in Beirut. It explores some of the complexities of the intermixed confessional nature of Lebanese life, and provides a small window into life in Beirut. A well-done romantic comedy/drama, definitely worth a look.

This is a wonderful movie, it definitely exceeded my expectations. The characters are funny, and real. They embody everything that is sweet, nice and tender about Lebanese. They show the fragile yet powerful situation of Lebanese women. I recommend to anyone who would like to see some glimpses of the Lebanese society.

So I watched this movie online. Absolutely loved it. Figured I'd buy it and own it considering Nadine Labaki is very attractive. Also, thought I'd support the Arabic cinema. The directing and filming quality was very impressive for an Arabic movie. Story plot was very interesting and portrays the true reality of some situations in the Arab world. Kind of tired and bored of the typical Arabic plots: good guy, bad guy, girl somehow is involved in the story. He has to rescue you her. bla bla bla. Anyway, I let a friend borrow it last year and I haven't seen it since. lol. So, that tells you how good of a movie it is.
Oh and in case your wondering I'm of Palestinian decent and my mom was born in Lebanon. I've vacationed there numerous times. Hence why I know this equates to the reality there.

Well, I will now associate caramel (my favorite) with hair removal, thanks to this movie..lol...lol... I had no idea that was how the caramel was used until I watched this movie. The acting was great, plot good, a bit of a love story that included all kinds of love stories, which I really liked. I would highly recommend this movie.

The more appreciative of an artist's work a reviewer becomes, the more meaning he sees in the work that perhaps the writer/director didn't consciously intend. Such is the case with Caramel, the lovely social, and cultural send up from Beirut, Lebanon.

From 1975 onward, Beirut became a metaphor for hell on earth, especially in the US. "Don't go there!" was the State Department's advice, and most westerners, not only never went but didn't take the time to learn anything about Lebanese society or the culture that surrounds it. The expertly written, acted, and directed film Caramel gives viewers a glimpse of what Lebanese women endure in a culture that, on the surface at least is surprisingly westernized, and at the same time struggling with the transition from time-honored traditions to a state of modernity more recognizable to Americans.

The setting is the seedy Si Belle beauty shop, with the letter B upside down on its sign-- emblematic of the upside down secret lives of its dwellers. The shop is where a coterie of women, both stylists and customers have coincidently gathered and formed a support group to help each other cope with the strictures of Lebanese society. The beauty shop is an excellent vehicle for the story line because it is a place where women literally and figuratively let their hair down. The cultural taboos, real or imagined, of ageing, virginity, adultery, being single, and homosexuality, are all examined through the lives of the script's characters. Viewers can't help but become sympathetic to, if not empathetic with, the plight of each of the players.

Nadine Labaki is not only the shining star Layale, but also co-screenwriter and director of Caramel. She is joined with a sterling cast of actors who glide effortlessly from scene to scene. The directorial pacing is superb, as the camera never lingers needlessly along the journey to emancipation--or resignation--of each of the characters. The symbolism embodied in the pain of seeking physical beauty by ripping out unwanted body hair by the roots seems to also represent the painful journey from tradition to modernity. In one scene, even the policeman Youssef, after being treated to a depilation by the ladies of the salon, walks out with a goofy smile, liberated by the experience.

The shop owner Layale is smitten with a married man and runs to him whenever he calls or condescendingly honks his horn. The forbidden love, which is winked at for men in this patrimonial culture, must be hidden by women from family and society. Our heroine is at once rebellious and conforming--she consents to an affair but doesn't want her parents to hear the surreptitious phone calls that she always initiates, and parks with her paramour in forbidden places.

Although the women are rebellious and wish to adopt western mores, they continually lapse into roles that society has typecast for them. For example they tell Rose the seamstress that they need to find a husband for her. They even chide the obviously masculine Rima that she should wear skirts and put her legs through a waxing ordeal. So, for all their yearning for freedom from the reactionary elements of their culture, they have become its prisoners.

There was a great deal of symbolism in many of the scenes. When seamstress Rose is fitting her customer Charles, he seems to be performing a dance for her with his arms needlessly raised in a sign of surrender. When Layale passes the cop who has been giving her tickets, she sticks her tongue out at him in a rebellious gesture. She refuses to wear the seatbelt because it "suffocates" her, an obvious parallel with the suffocating rules of society. And when she poses as a prostitute, the ultimate debasement for a woman, to get a hotel room for an assignation, she reaches bottom in the relationship and proceeds to scrub the room from top to bottom as if to cleanse her soul. Finally, when her lover doesn't show, she breaks the celebratory balloons, seemingly signaling the end of the romance.

The above-mentioned taboos were adroitly examined and a resolution of sorts for each character, except Jamale and Rose, culminates in the wedding scene. Sadly, the ageing actress continues the charade of pre-menopausal youth, and Rose resigns herself to taking care of her sister Lili instead of pursuing a last-chance affair with Charles. The old Lebanese tradition of hanging out the bloody wedding bed sheets was alluded to with the suggestion to the non-virginal Nisrene that she substitute the blood of two mourning doves. When the "restored" bride, tosses her wedding bouquet, a dove passes overhead and drops dung on Layale's forehead, signaling a baptism of sorts so the born-again woman can now pursue true romance.

This film deserves five stars and is recommended for audiences who wish to be entertained while learning about a culture that they have ignored or been woefully misinformed about.

Lebanese/French film "Caramel" is a bitter-sweet romantic comedy set in today's Beirut, following the lives of characters (mostly women) working or living in and around a beauty salon, including 30-year-old Layale (Nadine Labaki, also director and co-writer), owner of the beauty salon having an affair with a married man. Like guilt-ridden Layale, who keeps lying to her family, all the characters in "Caramel," both females and males alike, have some secrets or longings that they cannot disclose.

The narrative device itself is nothing new - France made "Venus Beauty Institute" back in 1999 with then unknown Audrey Tautou - and some of the episodes may look simple and familiar in "Caramel." The engaging film is effective as comedy though some parts of it, I am afraid, are lost on non-Lebanese audiences like me. Also, in "Caramel" you will meet characters you really care, but you will also realize that beneath the realistic (and often humorous) conversations of them there is something serious about the details of the events they experience.

To me what is the most impressive of the intertwined tales of "Caramel" is the poignant story of two old ladies, Lili (Aziza Semaan) and Rose (Sihame Haddad), which may remind you of one episode in "Love Actually." Sometimes in cinemas non-professionals achieve something amazing and the touching portrait of the old sisters is one of such examples. (The cast mostly consists of non-professional actors. They all did fantastic job.)

"Caramel" avoids being overtly political, is never dismal or preachy, but against the background of Lebanese cultural background the film has clearly several messages from the star/director/co-writer Nadine Labaki. She also succeeds in creating not stereotypical male characters like kind-hearted, romantic policeman Youssef and old, refined gentleman Charles as well as well-balanced, convincing descriptions of female characters.

The film's title "Caramel" may suggest something sweet. It is sweet, actually, but like life itself the film is more often bitter than sweet. As far as "Caramel" is concerned, that is not a bad thing after all.

Since the times of "The scent of green papaya" and previously "Thelma and Louise", "Steel magnolias", "Mystic pizza", "Moonstruck" and "The bitter tears of Petra von Kant", we had not had the chance to admire such captivating and thoughtful film like this one.Once you have seen, you will never forget it. The tender and humanizing vision around the affective universe of five women is superbly told, magnificently intermingled and bettered depicted through a suggestive atmosphere. Five different ages; five different approaches about the search of love and the pursuit of happiness.

The first of them is Layale, a very alluring young woman who has a hidden affair with a married man, this unbearable suffering avoids her to realize another man dreams and adores her at just five meters of distance nearby her workplace. Nisrine is a very pleasant woman who is at the verge of her marriage, but she hides a terrible secret about her past. The third is Rima, a woman who has bet to ignore her own feminine attractive and so she intends to live by passing, looking extremely awkward, establishing an unsaid attraction with another woman. The fourth, Jamale has simply decided to stop his biological clock, overlooking her youthful ages have passed away. But Rose is perhaps the most touching and poignant case of all: she has an elder sister, who suffers of senile dementia and works out as an unavoidable dark shadow around her social and affective existence.

It just was a question of time for all of us, to be aware about these countless livings and times of countless women who have suffered in own flesh, the contradictions, religious barriers and traditional conventionalisms for centuries and centuries.

A sensitive and deep film that will touch your soul, and will make us think about these unsaid stories still keep permeating the emotional destiny of so many women in the world.