Sukkar banat (2007)

Director:

Nadine Labaki

Writers:

Rodney El Haddad (writer)
Jihad Hojeily (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

9 August 2007 (Lebanon)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A romantic comedy centered on the daily lives of five Lebanese women living in Beirut.

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Phone Conversation | Virginity | Arraignment | Menopause

Cast

Nadine Labaki	...	Layale
Yasmine Elmasri	...	Nisrine (as Yasmine Al Masri)
Joanna Moukarzel	...	Rima
Gisèle Aouad	...	Jamale
Adel Karam	...	Youssef
Sihame Haddad	...	Rose (as Siham Haddad)
Aziza Semaan	...	Lili
Fatmeh Safa	...	Siham
Dimitri Staneofski	...	Charles
Fadia Stella	...	Christine
Ismaïl Antar	...	Bassam
Yousra Karam	...	Salon client
Victoria Bader	...	Salon client
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nancy	...	Woman in taxi

Directed by
Nadine Labaki

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Rodney El Haddad		writer
Jihad Hojeily		writer
Nadine Labaki		writer

Produced by
Raphael Berdugo	....	associate producer
Stéphane Riga	....	line producer
Anne-Dominique Toussaint	....	producer

Original Music by
Khaled Mouzannar

Cinematography by
Yves Sehnaoui

Film Editing by
Laure Gardette

Production Design by
Cynthia Zahar

Costume Design by
Caroline Labaki

Makeup Department
Nader Sidani	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Matthieu Bled	....	post-production manager
Jean Mansour	....	unit production manager
Stéphane Riga	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Abla Khoury	....	second assistant director
Elizabeth Marre	....	first assistant director

Sound Department
Christophe Bourreau	....	foley artist
Emmanuel Croset	....	sound re-recording mixer
Hervé Guyader	....	sound editor
Pierre-Yves Lavoué	....	sound
Hubert Teissedre	....	foley recording engineer

Visual Effects by
Bertrand de Saint Seine	....	digital compositor
Yann Larochette	....	digital compositor
Christophe Legendre	....	color grader

Camera and Electrical Department
Mher Keshishian	....	crane operator
Elie Merhy	....	electrician
Michel Serhal	....	electrician

Music Department
Claude Chaloub	....	musician: solo violin and alto violin (as Claude Chalhoub)
Adnan El Hout	....	musician: ney
Mounir El Khawi	....	musician: oud, mandolin and guitar
Marc Ernest	....	musician: piano
Khaled Mouzannar	....	musician: piano
Walid Nasser	....	musician: percussions
Marie-Jeanne Serrero	....	conductor
Marie-Jeanne Serrero	....	musician: piano
Jamal Zzatzour	....	musician: kanoun

Transportation Department
Wissam Sudek	....	driver

Other crew
Laurence Granec	....	press attache
Marianne Katra	....	production assistant
Karine Menard	....	press attache
Florence Mettler	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Les Films des Tournelles
• Bac Films
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• Les Films de Beyrouth
• Ministère des Affaires Étrangères (co-production)
• Roissy Films
• Sunnyland
• arte France Cinéma

Distributors

• A-Film Distribution (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Alamode Film (2008) (Germany) (all media)
• Alfa Films (2008) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Alta Films (2007) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Atlantic Film (2008) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Atlantic Film (2008) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Cetera International (2008) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Frenetic Films (2007-2008) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Momentum Pictures (2007) (UK) (all media)
• Roadside Attractions (2008) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Roissy Films (2007) (France) (theatrical)
• Sabbah Madia (2007) (worldwide) (theatrical)

Other Companies

• Naïve  soundtrack distributed by

Also Known As:

Caramel (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic elements involving sexuality, language and some smoking.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

France | Lebanon

Language:

Arabic | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | South Korea:12 | Argentina:Atp | Ireland:PG | USA:PG | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Sweden:Btl | Germany:o.Al. | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Beirut, Lebanon

Company:

Les Films des Tournelles

Trivia:

Lebanon's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008).

Soundtrack:

Succar Ya Banat

The sweet unveiling of 'Caramel'

Nadine Labaki: perhaps not a familiar name, not yet. You are certain to hear more of her, well beyond this report about her first film, "Caramel." The young Lebanese beauty is not only the star of this heartwarming and unusual movie, but also its director and co-writer.

Unusual? It sure is, a contemporary film taking place in Beirut without any reference to the wars tearing the city apart for decades now. (There is a parallel here with another excellent film making its U.S. appearance, "The Band's Visit," of an Egyptian-Israeli encounter set deliberately outside the political context.) Unusual? Amazingly so when you realize, having witnessed an extraordinary ensemble performance, that all but two of the cast members have no acting experience.It's all great acting by non-actors, and you wouldn't know it without a press release.

"Sex in the City" with brains, realism, and without affectation, "Caramel" tells the story of five women in a Beirut beauty salon, their lives and dreams. The tone is simple, intimate, the characters are different from each other, but all likable and real. "Caramel" is a movie to enjoy; beyond its vitality and good humor, it offers the viewer the acquaintance of everyday, believable people you can care about.

The title refers to the pliant caramelized sugar used for hair removal, material that can be used for good (removing hair) or ill (inflicting pain on a lover's wife, who ends up in the wrong salon). It is something "sweet and salt, sugary and sour, of the delicious sugar that can burn and hurt you," Labaki has said.

The director - whose theme and work are reminiscent of Pedro Almodovar's early films - is Layale, the owner of the salon, a woman in her early 30s, who "should be married" by now, but instead, she carries on a passionate (for her) affair with a married policeman. Layale is Christian, her best friend working in the salon, Nisrine, is a Moslem woman of 28, about to get married, but she is facing a daunting obstacle. The role is played memorably by one of the film's many amateur actors, Yasmine Al Masri.

Also in the salon, Rima, a 24-year-old tomboy (played by Joanna Moukarzel, in real life "business manager with an electrical appliance company"!), who is quietly struggling with her growing interest in women. It is one of the many glories of "Caramel" how her friends literally look the other way when Rima - very much in love - cuts the hair of a beautiful stranger (Siham Fatmeh Safa, who should be a model and an actress, but is neither).

Among the many fascinating characters: Jamale, a customer who virtually lives in the salon, a woman in denial of and battling her age; Lili, a crazy aunt, who collects parking tickets from windshields; and the men in the cast - relegated to supporting roles, but not belittled or presented in a hostile manner. It's not so much a "women's picture" as a film for and about people.

With splendid cinematography by Yves Sehnaoui, and appealing music by Khaled Mouzanar, "Caramel" completed production work in 2006, one week before the most recent bombing of Beirut began.