Directed by Nadine Labaki

In Beirut, as in many Middle Eastern countries, there is a sharp division between the public and private. While the men rule the public sphere, women have their own colourful and sensual microcosm called a beauty salon where they meet regularly to talk, confide in each other and do amazing things in the name of beauty. The title of this film actually refers to a caramel concoction that is used for waxing unwanted hair. In one way the women are incredibly liberated, but their conversations centre around men, love, marriage, sex and the need to conform to the hypocrisy of the world outside that is ever present.

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The film centres on five Lebanese women. Layale, a Christian, owns the salon and lives with her parents like virtually all unmarried women in Lebanon. Although deeply religious, she is in love with a married man. Nisrine is Muslim and has to mend her virginity for her forthcoming marriage. Jamale refuses to grow old and wants to become an actress now that her children have grown up and her husband has dumped her for a younger woman. Rosa has sacrificed her life to take care of her elderly sister Lili whose dementia means that she is very demanding. Rima is tormented by her attraction to women, particularly the lovely woman with long hair who visits the salon on a regular basis.

The film swims with overt and hidden desire. Labaki, who wrote, directed and stars in the film, points out that her characters have captured a world where the Lebanese woman, regardless of religion, live a contradiction ‘between what she is, what she wants to be and what she is allowed to be’.

Lezly Herbert