Caramel

Caramel takes place largely inside a Beirut beauty salon, where five women of different generations cross paths and confide in one another. Layale runs the shop and is involved with a married man; Nisrine is preparing for her wedding while worrying about her fiancé's expectations; Rima is drawn to a woman who keeps coming back to the salon; Jamale is preoccupied with getting older; and Rose has spent years caring for her sister. The film follows their conversations and private struggles as tradition and modern life pull them in different directions.

The film is Nadine Labaki's directorial debut and she also stars as Layale. It was written by Jihad Hojeily, Rodney El Haddad and Labaki, and produced by Anne-Dominique Toussaint. The cast includes Yasmine Al Massri, Joanna Moukarzel, Gisèle Aouad, Sihame Haddad and Adel Karam. Labaki went on to direct Rio, I Love You and Capernaum.

Released in 2007, Caramel was a Lebanese-French co-production and took about 14 million dollars worldwide. It has a rating of 7.1 out of 10 on IMDb from roughly 15,000 votes, and 6.9 out of 10 on TMDB from around 254 votes, while critics gave it 7.1 out of 10 from 81 reviews, placing it close to the audience score on IMDb.