Caramel (2007)

A romantic comedy centered on the daily lives of five Lebanese women living in Beirut.

Director:

Nadine Labaki

Writers:

Nadine Labaki (idea), Jihad Hojeily (idea)

Stars:

Nadine Labaki, Joanna Moukarzel, Gisèle Aouad

5 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nadine Labaki	...	Layale
Yasmine Al Massri	...	Nisrine (as Yasmine Al Masri)
Joanna Moukarzel	...	Rima
Gisèle Aouad	...	Jamale
Adel Karam	...	Youssef
Sihame Haddad	...	Rose (as Siham Haddad)
Aziza Semaan	...	Lili
Fatmeh Safa	...	Siham (as Fatme Safa)
Dimitri Staneofski	...	Charles (as Dimitri Stancofsky)
Fadia Stella	...	Christine
Ismaïl Antar	...	Bassam
Cinderella Al Hajj	...	Cliente rousse
Daed Al Khoury	...	Samia
Farida Saleba	...	Cliente salon (as Farida Saliba)
Jocelyne El Khoury	...	Cliente salon

Storyline

Six women in Beirut seek love, marriage, and companionship and find duty, friendship, and possibility. Four work at a salon: Nisrine, engaged to Bassam, with a secret she shares with her co-workers; Jamale, a divorced mother of teens, a part-time model, fearing the encroachment of time; Rima, always in pants, attracted to Siham, a client who smiles back; Layale, in love with a married man, willing to drop everything at a honk of his horn. There's also Rose, a middle-aged seamstress, who cares for Lili, old and facing dementia. Rose has a suitor; Layale has an admirer on the police force. Is delight a possibility? Is caramel a sweet or an instrument of pain?

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Plot Keywords:

caramel | f rated | police | friendship | suitor | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic elements involving sexuality, language and some smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Bac Films [France] Official site

Country:

France Lebanon

Language:

Arabic French

Release Date:

9 August 2007 (Lebanon)

Also Known As:

Caramel

Filming Locations:

Beirut, Lebanon

Box Office

Budget:

€1,300,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$71,916, 3 February 2008, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,060,591, 29 June 2008

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films des Tournelles, Les Films de Beyrouth, Roissy Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Most of the cast is made up of non-actors as director Nadine Labaki wanted naturalistic performances from them.

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Connections

Referenced in Seven Minutes (2009)

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Soundtracks

Etmakhtari Ya Helwa
Music by Ezzat El Gahili and lyrics by Fathi Koura

User Reviews

promising

This is one of the few moments of my life where I could enjoy a movie without reading sub titles. This time it is not Russian, not Swedish, not Danish, not German and not Spanish. It is an art movie in my native Lebanese language.

The lovely acting of all the team, the superb cinematography of Yves Sehnaoui and the charming music of Khaled Mouzanar all joined to make a movie to remember.

This is a movie about woman's inner being; men are in the background and the women's disorders are all exposed in a very elegant way. Uncertainty of life, sexuality, marriage, mid life crisis and elderly all put together in a colorful plot of innocent people.

In Caramel, we also see Christian and Muslim women living together, working together, truly loving and supporing each other. Thanks to Nadine Labaki for this message during a period of secterian conflicts.

The Last scene of the 2 ladies holding hands is a painting. I can't wait to get it on DVD. This will sit at the heart of my art movie collection.