It was the sleeper hit of Cannes International Film Festival and I didn't really like it. There I said it, hands in the air, I must be a philistine because the Lebanese film 'Caramel' by director/actress Nadine Laba just wasn't my cup of tea.

It's the type of film that is perfect for watching while reading a magazine because you can listen to it while doing something else and still understand exactly what is going on. Except it isn't, because you have to read the subtitles so you can't do two things at once.

"Caramel" is set in and around a Beirut beauty salon where women of different ages and religions discuss their lives and loves. The intimate exchanges cover the problems of having a married lover, coming to terms with same-sex attraction and deciding whether to have surgery to restore "virginity" ahead of marriage.

It was a perfectly acceptable film, and you can relate to the women's lives in some ways. But that was part of the problem, it was normal people doing normal things with no real purpose. It just was. There wasn't anything wrong with it but there wasn't anything great about it. The acting was fine, the cinematography was fine and the costumes were fine. Everything was just fine.

I left thinking: "Okay, so life in Lebanon is a pretty non-event then. There are lots of people living pretty mediocre lives and just getting on with it."

Except it isn't — but it is — which is why critics around the world have gushed at the fact that the film is unique for not showcasing a war-ravaged Lebanon but rather a warm and inviting exotic locale where people deal with universal issues.

Lebanon is considered one of the most complex and divided countries in the Middle East. It has often been on the fringes, and at times at the heart, of the regional conflict surrounding the creation of Israel. It became the scene of renewed and deadly fighting in July, 2006, when Israel launched a major military campaign against the Shia Muslim armed group Hezbollah. The shooting of "Caramel" ended just nine days before the Israeli attack began.

So that was the whole point, to show views that women in Lebanon continue to go to beauty salons and fall in love despite living in a Middle East hot zone. I perhaps wouldn't have minded the film as much if I had known that was the point before or the film had made general references to what was going on politically. But it didn't.

Having said that online review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 92 percent of critics gave the film positive reviews so you might not want to take my word on it. My only advice is to go in with the mindset that the whole point is you are watching Lebanese women living a very regular life just like your sister/wife/mother/lover. If you do that you might find, as one Cannes critic did, that it is "both an astute cultural study, and a charming comedic drama".

Caramel will screen tomorrow at 3.45 p.m. at Southside Theatre and again Friday at 6.30 p.m. at Liberty Theatre.