Married for a long time to a woman he sincerely loves, a man who has always kept his homosexuality secret, owner of a traditional kaftan shop in the medina of Salé, Morocco, is disturbed by the arrival of a young apprentice.
Winner of the Critics’ Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival last year, The blue of the caftan is the second feature film by Maryam Touzani, a Moroccan filmmaker whose talent was revealed to the world in 2019 thanks to Adam. Signing the screenplay for his new film with Nabil Ayouch (High and loud), her partner, the director offers a drama of infinite delicacy, built around the – almost inevitable – formation of a love triangle.
Maryam Touzani immediately places her story under the sign of sensuality by placing her camera on a petrol blue caftan that an expert and caressing hand is making. This hand is that of Halim (Saleh Bakri), one of the few tailors in the medina of Salé to make kaftans according to the traditional method, even if it means always falling far behind on his order book. Supported by his wife Mina, wonderfully played by Lubna Azabal (whom Quebec moviegoers know well thanks to Firesby Denis Villeneuve), Halim is a man in love with the one he loves, although he has always restrained his homosexual impulses.
Everything is clearly established, but the way the filmmaker echoes the unsaid that crosses this moving story is very modest. The inner turmoil that reaches Halim at the arrival of a young apprentice (Ayoub Missioui), who perfectly understands everything that is happening, is well evoked, but the filmmaker did not choose the easy way. Indeed, it proposes a different avenue from the one which, in appearance, was drawn straight ahead. This story of acceptance, rarely approached in this way in Maghreb cinema, is beautifully told.
Note that The blue of the caftan arrives in Quebec thanks to an American distribution company (Strand Releasing) even before its release in France, the co-producing country. Although the poster is in English and the trailer has English subtitles, the film will also be shown with French subtitles (depending on the session).
Indoors
Drama
The blue of the caftan
Maryam Touzani
With Lubna Azabal, Saleh Bakri, Ayoub Missioui
2:03 a.m.