Carmel is a movie produced in 2007 and directed by Nadine Labaki. This movie is a touching exploration of women’s lives in Beirut. This movie is set in a beauty salon and tells the stories of five women as they navigate love, tradition, and personal freedom. The central theme of Carmel revolved around societal expectations placed on women, particularly in the realms of love, marriage, and identity.
The film portrays how Arab society's norms and expectations shape women’s lives in Lebanon. Each of the women’s stories reveals different struggles. Firstly, Layale’s forbidden romance with a married man, Nisrine’s fear of rejection over her non-virgin status, Rima’s hidden attraction to women, Jamale’s anxiety about aging, and Rose’s sacrifices for her family. These narratives show the viewer the double standard and pressures women face, from maintaining virginity and beauty to cultural expectations around gender roles.
This theme is very relevant in contemporary Arab Life. In many parts of the Arab world, women face similar challenges of balancing personal interests with traditional values. The film Carmel portrays the struggles offering the slightest window into how women experience and push back towards the pressures in their everyday lives. Chebli’s dissertation shows how traditional feminist representation in Lebanese magazines shows women promoting the domesticated wife instead of promoting individuality (Chelbi, 2002) Also another article, it discussed how fertility preservation is important to make sure one has a marriage in the future. The article explores women’s attitudes towards fertility preservation which connects to some of the themes in the movie Caramel. Interestingly, the article revealed that only 19% of women had concerns about hymenal disruption. Due to the conservative nature of the country, researchers believed that the concern would be deeper (Ghazeeri, et. Al, 2023).
The issues brought about in this film are of great importance. The discussion of gender roles and societal expectations is important due to the weight they hold in shaping communities and individual lives across the Arab world. The traditional norms discussed in the film perpetuate cycles of inequality as seen throughout the film. Cycles of inequality have a huge effect on women in the Arab world limiting their freedoms and creating internal conflicts between women who desire a nontraditional path.
The pressures depicted in Caramel resonated with my observations as someone familiar with Arab culture. I saw the film to be a very powerful depiction of women’s struggles focusing on the shared humanity between the characters. I found myself comparing the movie to American society which often promoted individualism and personal choice, especially to women. Personally, Rima’s struggles with her identity stood out the most. It provided me with insight on the fight the LGBTQ+ community has to go through to ever feel accepted. It made me think about all the other individuals in the LGBTQ+ community in the Arab world and other conservative locations, it saddened me to think about how they can never embrace their true identity. In conclusion, I recommend this movie to anyone reading this blog because it is a cinematic gen that captured the nuanced female experience in the Arab world.
References:
Chebli, I. T. (2002). Traditional vs. feminist representations in Lebanese women’s magazines. Thesis (M.A.M.C.)--University of Florida, 2002.
Ghazeeri, G., Beyrouthy, C., El-taha, L., Abiad, M., Fahs, D., & Schlatt, S. (2023). Knowledge & attitudes toward fertility preservation (Medical and social freezing) among Lebanese women between the ages of 18 and 39 years. PloS One, 18(9), e0291249-. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291249