A few years back, I was extremely impressed by Capernaum, the only Lebanese film I’ve seen so far. Well, this earlier was both the debut of its director Nadine Labaki and she also stars in it. Once again I love the authenticity of its Beirut setting and the matter-of-factly way that it tells the stories of five women there, leaving aside the country’s post-war tensions and instability. Unfortunately this is a lighter film that goes for breadth rather than depth and relies too much on maudlin music. I admire what it’s going for and enjoyed it but it’s nowhere as good as Capernaum.

Layale works in a beauty salon in Beirut along with Nisrine and Rima. Among the services they offer is epilation using a heated sugar mix which gives the film its title. One of their regular customers is the older Jamale who tries hard to look younger while still auditioning for actress roles. Across the street from them is a tailor’s shop run by the elderly Rose who is often frustrated at having to care for her mentally ill elder sister Lili. Each of these women have their own little stories. Layale is the mistress of an already married man. Nisrine has a boyfriend and is eager to get married but her boyfriend might need a bit of a push. Rima is obviously a lesbian but has to repress herself in a still conservative country. Finally Rose entertains a fantasy about a romance with an older French gentleman who is a client but is held back by Lili. Meanwhile policeman Youssef who beat is on their street has a crush on Layale but is ignored.

Reminders that this is set in Beirut are everywhere. A letter from the sign of the salon’s name Si Belle is missing, trash is visible on the street, the cars are as run-down as the buildings and there are frequent power outages. Yet to the women in this film, it’s just where they live and is part of their everyday background. Instead it tells stories of women’s issues, mainly focused around love and marriage. The most localized of the stories is probably that of the Muslim Nisrine whose family is conservative and who worries that her soon-to-be husband will be upset at discovering that she is not a virgin. Labaki is to be commended for her courage in portraying Layale herself as a silly girl who goes to extreme lengths to attract a married man in the vain hope that he will leave his wife. But it’s a familiar and not especially interesting story. The rest are only okay though Jamale trying to show that she is young by faking a period seems outlandish.

With so many characters to cover, the film frequently falls back on montage scenes with no dialogue and sentimental music. Layale taking pains to decorate the cheap hotel room where she intends to have a tryst with her lover is conflated with Rose dressing up for a date. There is never any explicit mention of homosexuality and Rima does no more than some light flirting. The film does effectively convey key moments with only brief shots but the brevity also means that it only skirts lightly over their issues. We never get to know any of the characters deeply and so for me it never gets very intense. I also found it a little off-putting that the women pine so much for love, beauty and male approval. I suppose it’s realistic enough but it also makes them not very interesting as characters to me.

It is a beautiful film and I get what it’s trying to do in showing that what most people around the world think of as a chaotic, war-torn country can be just a regular home to its people who have the same problems as everyone else. But it’s light fare compared to Capernaum and so I doubt it will be memorable. It’s a real pity that Labaki hasn’t made more films because she’s an amazing director.