Lebanese setting freshens ‘Caramel’ — a classic ‘women’s picture’

Published 5:46 pm Thursday, April 3, 2008

The premise of “Caramel” has been done before (“Beauty Shop” in Hollywood, “Venus Beauty Institute” in France), but it gets a sense of novelty from its setting. We’re following the problems of the women at a beauty parlor in Beirut.

At the center of the ensemble is the shop’s owner, Layale (Nadine Labaki, the film’s director). She’s a Christian, lives with her parents (not an unusual thing in this setting), and clandestinely sees a married man on the side (an unusual thing).

Even though the other ladies at the parlor dish about their love lives, this is one affair that isn’t for public consumption. She’s rivaled in her secret feeling by one of her hairdressers, Rima (Joanna Moukarzel), who is beginning to fall in love with a woman client who comes in for shampoos.

We also meet a Muslim hair stylist (Yasmine Al Masri), whose upcoming traditional marriage is a source of anxiety for her. Everyone assumes she’s a virgin, but she knows she isn’t — and worries her husband might find out on their wedding night.

There are other troubles, the most charming belonging to an aging seamstress (Sihame Addad) with a shop next door to the salon. A distinguished-looking man is paying attention, but she is bound by her duty to care for an ailing sister.

All of these complications and heartaches are the stuff of the classic “women’s picture,” and the setting in Lebanon shines a whole new cultural light on the material. Maybe we wouldn’t notice the movie if it were set in small town, U.S.A., but the fresh location gives it interest.

As a director, Labaki has an offhand approach to presenting Beirut through an insider’s eyes: You never get the feeling she’s standing there waving her arms and saying, “Look how exotic we are.” Maybe this will bring the movie a similar draw as the Iranian story of “Persepolis,” although that film had a more original kind of attack.

And the title? The women make caramel to use as a sticky substance to remove unwanted hair. But the sweet, seductive associations are probably intended too.