Caramel

The film Caramel explores the lives of five unique women, searching for love, acceptance, and affection. Through their wardrobes, habits, and language, the spectator learns about the women, rather than blunt introductions explaining their stories.

Rima, usually dressed in loose, faded jeans, an oversized shirt or hooded sweatshirt, wears her face clean of makeup. As Stuart Hall explains, Barthes described semiotics in two parts: denotation and connotation. Rima’s clothes signify casualness, and when compared to Layale or Jamale’s clothes, they do not signify femininity. Additionally, Rima always wears headphones around her neck, which denote music to the spectator, but also imply her detachment from the outside world because when she wears them, she cannot hear what is around her.

The relationship Rima has with the customer that always comes in to have her hair washed my Rima is quiet but intimate and sexual. They become closer through their time spent together; however, it is clear that there is a power struggle between them and societal norms. Keeping their sexuality a secret and using the back room where the sinks are as a buffer between their experience together and the rest of the world. This representation explores Foucault’s theories of power and interpretation based on personal meaning in representation.

The entire film expresses knowledge about society, its expectations, and norms. Highlighting the very core of Foucault’s theories on representation. Through Jamale the spectator understand that youthfulness is important. It can be seen through her lies about her period, her cosmetic changes to look younger, and how she acts when with the other women. Layale signifies the taboo of affairs and sanctity of marriage and pure relationships. Nisrine also signifies the importance of pure relationships through her struggle with having pre-marital sex with a man, who was not to be her husband. These representations of society also explore the personal struggles women feel in this society. The film is both of a macro subject and individual stories.