Maryam Touzani fashionably stitches together a delicate tale of illicit love in her second feature...
Director: Maryam Touzani
Starring: Lubna Azabal, Saleh Bakri, Ayoub Missioui
Running time: 122 minutes
The opening scenes of The Blue Caftan feature close-up, lustful images of gentle hands caressing rustling silks. It’s hypnotising and clear that Maryam Touzani’s Moroccan drama has a mission to say something about desire, as well as tell the storyline of a couple who sell hand-sewn caftans. But the subject of desire is not clear, veiled by the character’s (and the camera’s) undying love and almost erotic affection for this traditional craft.
The film’s beginning acts as a love letter to the traditional tailoring that Halim (Saleh Bakri) learned from his father. Mina (Lubna Azabal) marvels at these creations, knowing exactly how to entice a customer. Their store, however, feels like a monumental ruin, destined to crumble and give way to uniform developments: machine-made clothes are an ever-looming threat to Halim’s patient and intricate artistry, as Mina’s health gradually declines.
The Blue Caftan establishes a love triangle plot that is bound to boil over, yet the film stays at a constant simmer throughout, steering clear of easy clichés
The couple hire an apprentice, Youssef (Ayoub Missioui), to help, but his presence causes the foundations of their relationship to fray at the seams. When Youssef undresses in front of them, Halim gazes at him longingly, and Mina winces.
The Blue Caftan establishes a love triangle plot that is bound to boil over, yet the film stays at a constant simmer throughout, steering clear of easy clichés that the premise of repressed love might suggest. Instead, Touzani gives us a masterclass in restraint, confronting gentler, more complicated forms of connection. It’s the lived-in relationship between Halim and Mina that lies at the film’s core, and it’s Azabal’s exceptional portrayal of Mina that emerges as the film’s essence.
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