Caramel
Six women in Beirut seek love, marriage, and companionship and find duty, friendship, and possibility. Four work at a salon: Nisrine, engaged to Bassam, with a secret she shares with her co-workers; Jamale, a divorced mother of teens, a part-time model, fearing the encroachment of time; Rima, always in pants, attracted to Siham, a client who smiles back; Layale, in love with a married man, willing to drop everything at a honk of his horn. There's also Rose, a middle-aged seamstress, who cares for Lili, old and facing dementia. Rose has a suitor; Layale has an admirer on the police force. Is delight a possibility? Is caramel a sweet or an instrument of pain?
The film earned $14.2M at the global box office.
5 wins & 10 nominations
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
Caramel (2007) reveals strategically placed narrative design, characteristic of Nadine Labaki's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 15-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 1 hour and 36 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 7.1, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Characters
Cast & narrative archetypes
Layale
Nisrine
Rima
Jamale
Rose
Lili
Main Cast & Characters
Layale
Played by Nadine Labaki
The salon owner who has an affair with a married man, struggling with her desire for love and moral conflict.
Nisrine
Played by Yasmine Al Massri
A Muslim seamstress at the salon who faces the challenge of not being a virgin before her wedding.
Rima
Played by Joanna Moukarzel
A young woman struggling with her attraction to women in a conservative society.
Jamale
Played by Gisèle Aouad
An aging actress desperate to hold onto her youth and career through cosmetic procedures.
Rose
Played by Siham Haddad
A seamstress who has sacrificed her own romantic life to care for her elderly sister.
Lili
Played by Aziza Semaan
Rose's elderly sister suffering from dementia, whom Rose cares for devotedly.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes The beauty salon in Beirut opens for business. Layale prepares caramel for waxing while women gather for treatments, establishing the intimate world where secrets and dreams are shared among friends.. Significantly, this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 12 minutes when Layale learns her married lover is becoming distant or unavailable, disrupting her fantasy of their relationship. This forces her to confront the reality of her situation.. At 13% through the film, this Disruption is delayed, allowing extended setup of the story world. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
The First Threshold at 24 minutes marks the transition into Act II, occurring at 25% of the runtime. This shows the protagonist's commitment to Each woman commits to a course of action: Nisrine decides to undergo virginity restoration surgery, Layale continues pursuing her lover despite warning signs, Rima accepts her attraction, marking their entry into active pursuit of their desires., moving from reaction to action.
At 49 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 51% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Structural examination shows that this crucial beat False defeat: complications intensify for each woman. Layale's lover's wife may be pregnant or he pulls further away, Nisrine's wedding approaches with mounting anxiety, and the women's secrets become harder to maintain., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 73 minutes (76% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, All is lost: Layale's lover definitively chooses his wife/family, destroying her romantic fantasy. Each woman faces her lowest point—dreams die, illusions shatter, and the weight of societal constraints feels crushing., reveals the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Second Threshold at 77 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 80% of the runtime. Realization emerges: the women's true strength lies not in conforming to expectations or romantic fulfillment, but in their solidarity with each other. They choose self-acceptance and sisterhood over societal approval., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
Caramel's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 15 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs systematic plot point analysis that identifies crucial turning points. By mapping Caramel against these established plot points, we can identify how Nadine Labaki utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish Caramel within the comedy genre.
Nadine Labaki's Structural Approach
Among the 3 Nadine Labaki films analyzed on Arcplot, the average structural score is 6.2, demonstrating varied approaches to story architecture. Caramel represents one of the director's most structurally precise works. For comparative analysis, explore the complete Nadine Labaki filmography.
Comparative Analysis
Additional comedy films include The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, The Bad Guys and Lake Placid. For more Nadine Labaki analyses, see Where Do We Go Now?, Capernaum.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
The beauty salon in Beirut opens for business. Layale prepares caramel for waxing while women gather for treatments, establishing the intimate world where secrets and dreams are shared among friends.
Theme
A client or friend remarks on the constraints women face in Lebanese society regarding love, marriage, and aging, hinting at the film's exploration of female identity within traditional expectations.
Worldbuilding
Introduction to the five women and their struggles: Layale's affair with a married man, Nisrine's secret before marriage, Rima's attraction to women, Jamale's fear of aging, and Rose caring for her elderly sister.
Disruption
Layale learns her married lover is becoming distant or unavailable, disrupting her fantasy of their relationship. This forces her to confront the reality of her situation.
Resistance
The women debate their choices and paths forward. Layale resists letting go of her lover, Nisrine prepares for her wedding while hiding her secret, and each woman struggles between societal expectations and personal desires.
Act II
ConfrontationFirst Threshold
Each woman commits to a course of action: Nisrine decides to undergo virginity restoration surgery, Layale continues pursuing her lover despite warning signs, Rima accepts her attraction, marking their entry into active pursuit of their desires.
Mirror World
The salon itself and the women's sisterhood is revealed as the thematic heart—a space where women support each other through society's constraints, embodying unconditional acceptance and female solidarity.
Premise
The promise of the premise: intimate moments of female bonding, beauty rituals, stolen moments of romance, small rebellions against tradition. The women navigate their desires while supporting each other through humor and caramel wax.
Midpoint
False defeat: complications intensify for each woman. Layale's lover's wife may be pregnant or he pulls further away, Nisrine's wedding approaches with mounting anxiety, and the women's secrets become harder to maintain.
Opposition
Pressure mounts as reality closes in. Each woman faces the consequences of her choices: relationships strain, secrets threaten to emerge, societal judgment looms, and the gap between desire and reality widens painfully.
Collapse
All is lost: Layale's lover definitively chooses his wife/family, destroying her romantic fantasy. Each woman faces her lowest point—dreams die, illusions shatter, and the weight of societal constraints feels crushing.
Crisis
The women grieve their losses and sit with painful truths. In the salon's intimate space, they process heartbreak, disappointment, and the death of certain dreams about love and acceptance.
Act III
ResolutionSecond Threshold
Realization emerges: the women's true strength lies not in conforming to expectations or romantic fulfillment, but in their solidarity with each other. They choose self-acceptance and sisterhood over societal approval.
Synthesis
Resolution: Nisrine's wedding proceeds with the women's support, Layale begins letting go and opening to new possibilities, Rima embraces her identity, Rose finds unexpected connection. Each woman moves forward with quiet dignity and mutual support.
Transformation
Final image mirrors the opening: the salon, the caramel, the women together. But now transformed—no longer defined by their struggles with men or society, but by their resilience, sisterhood, and acceptance of themselves.