Caramel

2008
7.1| 1h36m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 01 February 2008 Released
Producted By: ARTE France Cinéma
Country: Lebanon
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.bacfilms.com/site/caramel/
Info

In a beauty salon in Beirut the lives of five women cross paths. The beauty salon is a colorful and sensual microcosm where they share and entrust their hopes, fears and expectations.

Genre

Drama, Comedy, Romance

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Caramel (2008) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Nadine Labaki

Production Companies

ARTE France Cinéma

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Caramel Audience Reviews

Alicia I love this movie so much
Jeanskynebu the audience applauded
Micransix Crappy film
Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
Omar Jamal I don't know if it was my talking during the movie, my short attention span, or the fact that I might be an idiot. I just don't get what's so good about this movie. I saw it on rotten tomatoes, it had a 92% rating. "Wow! This movie must be a classic of epic proportions." I said to myself. BOYYYYY!!! Was I wrong!I mean the visual aspect of the movie was almost flawless: The setting was nice, the cinematography was good, and the acting felt authentic except that annoying Lily, she was very distracting and very much contrasted the movie's rather serious tone in a poorly done way. By all means, when it comes to those aspects, I understand why people like this movie. However, what I hated about this movie was the script, which felt shallow, underwhelming, and the story kept too many loose ends. I mean if this movie took a little bit longer to make, it would've answered a few more questions, because when I came to the end, my first reaction was, "That's it?"What I experienced in this movie was the feeling of being underwhelmed - the feeling that something was missing. There was a certain void that the movie didn't fill for me. Many of the subplots felt like they lead to nothing: Who is that dirty swine that Layal likes, and what does she love about him? What happens with the Lesbian stereotype and her object of admiration? What is the woman doing at the photo-shoot?I mean I like movies that ask questions more than they answer, but this movie answered none except maybe why the old woman won't go on a date with the old man, but the answer was unconvincing and it felt like an afterthought. Another problem with this movie was that the scenes took longer than they should. I understand the purpose of the whole thing: to suck us with the setting and emotions displayed on screen - but this process clearly came at the expense of the story.I came into this movie expecting something of overwhelming emotional magnitude. What I got instead was a movie that proved why one must not always place style over substance. Your movie might look beautiful and suck you in with its beautiful scenery, however all that is just designed to keep you from noticing how underwritten this entire movie is.
thisissubtitledmovies When a foreign film manages to make that break across the border and garner international success there's often the expectation that it should act as an ambassador for its country of origin, especially when that nation is not known for its prolific cinematic output. But where does that leave Nadine Labaki's Lebanese romance Caramel? Can any film successfully walk that balance between the light-hearted and the weighty? Caramel may flirt with the anachronistic studio-era concept of being a 'woman's picture' but when the only current offering for strong female leads in cinemas sees entire platoons of the Boots 'here come the girls' set marching blindly into cinemas to watch four over-paid harridans bemoaning the lack of haute couture in Abu Dhabi there has never been a better time to discover the mature and believable view of romance purported by Caramel. Who says rom coms have to be dumb screen fodder? JB
Movie Gurl ALERT!! CONTAINS Spoilers What a nice independent morsel this movie, Caramel, is!!! It is uniquely positioned to fall into the dramedy category (a comedy and drama amalgamation). Heres the plot be warned in advance, there are spoilers so turn back now if you don't want the entire scoop. Caramel mainly centers on the daily lives of five Lebanese women living in Beirut. Layal (Nadine Labaki) works in a beauty salon in Beirut along with three other women. While not completely clear who works there and who is merely a client, it is clear that this is the Waiting to Exhale for the Lebanese. Each female lead has a problem: Layal has a relationship with a married man, Nisrine (Yasmine Al Masri) is engaged to be married but we soon learn she did not await the wedding/marriage ceremony to consummate the union, Rima (Joanna Moukarzel) is attracted to a beautiful client who frequents the shop (a female client) and Jamal (Gisèle Aouad) is worried about growing older and will go to elaborate means to appear younger. Lastly, there's Rose (Sihame Haddad), a tailor with a shop next to the salon. Rose, an older female character, has clearly devoted her life to take care of her older sister who has dementia. But just when her life should be ramping down, she starts to feel a spark of attraction with a male customer that constantly needs tailoring to his suits. Lets explore Layals character a bit more. She is troubled over her relationship with a married man. Moments that are stolen away either in a car parked in a desolate place or moments taken via cell phone while hiding in the bathroom are no longer enough she makes plans to meet him at a hotel for a romantic rendezvous but he does not show up . . . leaving Layal in tears, leaning on her friends and finally in a place to notice a young police officer that is longing to be her suitor. True intensity develops as the wife of her lover comes into the shop for beauty services. The wife does not know Layals secret but Layal knows who she is. Then there is Rose, who is exhausted and weighted by her duties as caregiver. She was asked on a date by the gentleman customer and she went to the salon to get all made up. Unfortunately, while she was applying her makeup, her sister begins banging on the door as she often does, and then in a heartbreaking scene, it is then that Rose knows that her life will not ever be hers. This is a web of story lines but it is very easy to follow even with the English subtitles. Its daring, given its country of origin and worth the hour and a half spent indulging in this prickly, sweet Caramel.
Roland E. Zwick Like the confectionery treat that is its namesake, "Caramel" is a sweet-tasting concoction that leaves you feeling less satiated than undernourished when it's over. Set in and around a beauty parlor in Beirut, Lebanon, the story chronicles the decidedly low-keyed romantic escapades of a group of women (some of them stylists and others customers at the shop), all of whom fall out into neatly differentiated categories like "the non-virginal fiancé," (apparently, that's still a concern in that part of the world), "the lonely spinster," "the other woman," "the lesbian," etc.Within its comparatively restricted genre (let's just call it the "hair emporium movie," for lack of a better term), "Caramel" is less theatrical than "The Salon," but nowhere near as sharp and funny as "Barbershop" or "Steel Magnolias." The actresses are all competent and appealing, but the material is stretched so thin that the movie barely makes it across the finish line before calling it quits.