Caramel
I watched this film yesterday and still feel completely filled with love for it. It was beautiful and touching, and all the actresses did amazing jobs. I rented it, but I'm now planning to buy.
It was directed and co-written by Nadine Labaki, who also stars as Layale. It's set in Beirut, but makes no mention of politics or war. Instead, it's entirely centred around five women, three of whom work in a salon. In the words of wikipedia, it's 'the simple but effective story of five Lebanese women tackling forbidden love, binding traditions, repressed sexuality, the struggle to accept the natural process of age, and duty vs. desire.'
Personally, my favourite character was of Rima. I didn't actually realise Caramel featured a lesbian storyline until I watched it, and so I was thrilled by it. I loved how unself-conciously different Rima is, how she isn't at all afraid to stand out. While the other women dress in skirts and make-up, wear their hair long, she walks around in jeans and a jacket with her hair cut short. As another character said, she doesn't act like a 'proper girl', but she shows no signs of angsting or of considering change to better fit in. She just is who she is. And the final scene before the credits was possible my favourite of the film. I don't want to spoil it, but I was smiling as hugely as the character.
But there wasn't any character I didn't like. All of them were strong, interesting characters facing up to their various problems. None of them were perfect, or made all the right decisions. They were just five women doing the best they could in a somewhat restrictive society.
I would recommend this film to everyone. Actually, I pretty much want to force everyone to sit down and watch it!
It was directed and co-written by Nadine Labaki, who also stars as Layale. It's set in Beirut, but makes no mention of politics or war. Instead, it's entirely centred around five women, three of whom work in a salon. In the words of wikipedia, it's 'the simple but effective story of five Lebanese women tackling forbidden love, binding traditions, repressed sexuality, the struggle to accept the natural process of age, and duty vs. desire.'
Personally, my favourite character was of Rima. I didn't actually realise Caramel featured a lesbian storyline until I watched it, and so I was thrilled by it. I loved how unself-conciously different Rima is, how she isn't at all afraid to stand out. While the other women dress in skirts and make-up, wear their hair long, she walks around in jeans and a jacket with her hair cut short. As another character said, she doesn't act like a 'proper girl', but she shows no signs of angsting or of considering change to better fit in. She just is who she is. And the final scene before the credits was possible my favourite of the film. I don't want to spoil it, but I was smiling as hugely as the character.
But there wasn't any character I didn't like. All of them were strong, interesting characters facing up to their various problems. None of them were perfect, or made all the right decisions. They were just five women doing the best they could in a somewhat restrictive society.
I would recommend this film to everyone. Actually, I pretty much want to force everyone to sit down and watch it!