Caramel: Social Issues and Female Melodrama

The first film I will attempt to deconstruct is Nadine Labaki's 2007 film Caramel (Sukkar banat).

This film enjoyed significant success for a very limited distribution in the United States and was Lebanon's official entry into the foreign film category of the Academy Awards. This success in the West is due in part to its positive depiction of Arab women and themes of female empowerment. Labaki's strong-willed and intelligent characters challenge Western stereotypes of the oppressed and restricted Arab woman. Thus, Caramel is very much a "West-friendly" film.

Caramel tells the story of five Lebanese women who are connected by a beauty salon, the only place they feel comfortable enough to discuss and air out their problems and grievances. Layale (Labaki) is the salon owner who is stuck in a dead-end affair with a married man. Her coworker Nisrine (Yasmine Al Masri) is about to marry a Muslim man and chooses to undergo hymen reconstruction surgery to hide the fact that she is not a virgin. Rima (Joanna Moukarzel) also works at the salon and is coming to terms with her attraction to women. Salon frequenter Jamal (Gisele Aouad) tries to fight aging and menopause as she attempts to make a career as an actress after her divorce. And finally there is Rose (Siham Hiddad), an older woman who finds love for the first time in her life but sacrifices it all to take care of her mentally unstable older sister.

In terms of genre, Caramel falls into the category of melodrama. More specifically, it is a female melodrama and social issues film. In Hollywood, the social issue film, which reached its height in the 1950s, is most often hybridized with other genres. For example, the film Juno deals with the social issue of teen pregnancy, but it is also a comedy. Caramel seems to be following this pattern by combining a story of everyday people with everyday problems that stem from cultural issues of tradition, inter-religious marriage and public decency. Notably absent is any reference to politics or violence, the two things an average audience may expect to find in Arab movies.

Also interesting about Caramel is its unique style. Labaki employs a lot of very expressive techniques, seen in her use of melodramatic music, bright color schemes and dramatic visual composition. At the same time, Caramel has elements of cinema-verite such as the "hand-held" camera feel and documentary style of Jamal's audition for a commercial. Furthermore, the film is shot almost entirely on location and employs mostly non-professional actors, techniques most often associated with neo-realism and third world cinema.

While the style of Caramel is difficult to categorize, there is no questioning the affect the film has on audiences. Dialogue in the film is very limited, so most of the story is told through action and subtle facial expressions. Jamal sits in a bathroom stall pouring nail polish on a maxi pad, a seemingly pointless and nonsensical action, but from the carefulness with which she arranges the pad in the trash can and the pained look on her face during her audition, the audience puts the pieces together and realizes she is faking her period so no one will know she is menopausal. This desperate and pathetic attempt to hide her age can speak to viewers of all ages who have ever felt inadequate in comparison to someone younger, older, prettier, smarter or faster.

Labaki's characters are dealing with organic human problems that transcend borders, race and religion. However, Lebanon is itself an important character. The religion of culture of Beirut comes alive in the film, and indeed at one point, a religious processional honoring the Virgin Mary interrupts life in the salon as the priest comes in to bless the business.

Caramel is a must-see for its stereotype-shattering portrayal of Lebanese women, experimental style and cultural study of contemporary Lebanon.

Here is the trailer for Caramel:



Photo Courtesy: Ya Libnan
Photo Caption: L to R Gisele Aouad, Yasmine Al Msri, Joanna Moukarzel and Nadine Labaki in the film Caramel.