Caramel

Vandana Prasad

WS 306U

Quiz 2 – Caramel

8/11/2011

Caramel is a heartwarming movie about a group of friends and their interactions with the people around them. There are five main characters, Layale, Nisrine, Rima, Jamale and Rose. Layale is the owner of a beauty salon and Nisrine and Rima are two of her employees. Nisrine, who is to be married soon, is worried that her fiancé will find out that she has been with other men because she is not a virgin. Rima is evidently attracted to women but cannot admit it due to several reasons. Jamale is a struggling actress, customer and friend to these women. Rose is a tailor who lives nearby the salon and has devoted her life to taking care of her sister and therefore never married.

The relationship that these women share with each other is of friendship and sisterhood. They are able to confide in each other their deepest secrets and fears. Except for Rima, the women openly discuss each other’s problems and find solutions to them. At home these women are expected to be respectable daughters, a hardworking mother and a devoted sister.

This movie relates to feminism on several levels. Firstly, this movie shows equality between men and women on an economical level. Women are able to work on their own with little or no restrictions that could be gender biased. They are allowed to own businesses, work outside the home, become actresses, and work at any age. It also appeared that these women were in charge of their personal lives as well. Nisrine was marrying a man of her choice, Rose chose not to get married and Jamale was an independent working mother while Layale parents expected her to choose her own husband. There were some forms of social restrictions on the women in the movie such as Nisrine was expected to dress respectfully when visiting her fiancé’s family although that could also be considered being modest and showing respect for Bassam’s family. Rima was unable to admit her sexuality because of the social and...