Caramel

FIPRESCI-price for best film in competition, Stockholm International Film Festival 2007

At a shaggy beauty salon in Beirut – the signoutside is about to fall down, the electricitydisappears every now and then – we meet fouryoung women tangled up in life dilemmas: Layaleis having an affair with a married guy; Nisrinehas had sex before her up-coming wedding;Jamale is beginning to feel old; and Rima issecretly a lesbian. With its Arabic music andsubtle storytelling, this unusual contributionto the romantic-comedy genre is the directorialdebut from Nadine Labaki, a superstar in herhome country, who also plays one of the leadingparts. In “Caramel”, both the portrayal of thecity and the story taking place there expandswestern expectations. The surroundings aredifferent, the problems are unexpected, and thereal-life feeling and the sweet humor get soclose you almost feel like Labaki’s Beirut was your own hometown.

Premiere Status
Swedish Premiere: Cast
Nadine Labaki, Ismaïl Antar, Giséle Aouad, Yasmine Elsmasri: Producer
Anne-Dominique Toussaint: Script
Rodney El Haddad, Jihad Hojeily, Nadine Labaki: Cinematography
Yves Sehnaoui: Music
Khaled Mouzannar: Spoken language
Arabic, French