‘The blue caftan’: The delicacy of the profound gesture of love

After a magnetic debut, ‘Adam’, which could be seen at the 64th edition of Seminci), there was a great desire to see the second feature film by the Franco-Moroccan Maryam Touzani. ‘The Blue Caftan’ was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 75th Cannes Film Festivalchosen by Morocco for the Best International Film category at the 95th Academy Awards (where it was part of the shortlist) e Best Actress Award at the 67th Seminci in Valladolid. The film is rather an act of courage, telling a gay-themed story, in a country where homosexuality is illegal and is punishable by between 6 months and 3 years in prison.

It’s no wonder of a director who has always stood out for having fought for the rights of women and minorities in a complicated country like Morocco. ‘The Blue Caftan’ began as a project after Touzani met a man in Casablanca who was forced to live a double life. The director does not only portray sexual repression that lives a man whose profession is a handicraft – he is engaged in making dresses and caftans in the traditional style; but also that of the woman who agreed to marry him and how they both ended up supporting each other.

Touzani returns to show off its power to convey sensations with small gestures and how these maintain a deep meaning, with a background that invites you to think that what you see is only a small part of this strange couple. The arrival of a third discord, the apprentice from which the protagonist will feel deeply attracted, will create an atmosphere of tension and desire that Touzani knows how to carry poetically, going towards a style that evokes that of Wong Kar Wai.

A beautiful and delicate piece of cinematography with a powerful LGBT reality and social background in Morocco

However, this would not have been possible without its star trio. While Saleh Bakri and Ayoub Missioui are magnificent as that forbidden couple, the one that dazzles is Lubna Azabalends up being the protagonist in her own right, with which Touzani ennobles those women who, sadly, have seen their personal lives cut short in a marriage made to keep up appearances.

What ends up exalting ‘The blue caftan’ is the delicacy that Touzani has, who writes the screenplay together with Nabil Ayouch, with its female protagonist. It gives him an exceptional presence and humanity. Although there is a separation of decades, years, nationality, religion and culture; the presence that Touzani gives to Azabal as Mina reminiscent of the one Todd Haynes gave him to Cathy Whitaker, the housewife played by Julianne Moore in 1950s Connecticut in ‘Far from Heaven’.

Thus, ‘El caftán azul’ is seen as that detailed cinema, in which it looks with respect to its story, its protagonists and the audience. Remember that, on several occasions, less is more and that a look, a caress or a camera that focuses only on the feet is able to say much more than any dialogue included. There you can see the magic of cinema and that Touzani brings to the contemporary spectator, becoming one of the most fascinating filmmakers both in the recent Maghreb cinema and in the French industry, since her feature films are co-productions with France.

‘The blue caftan’ is a deep love story, but one that goes beyond romantic. A delightful feature film which is one of the best released so far in the first quarter of this 2023.

Note: 9

The best: Like Touzani, he masterfully manages the games of glances, the small movements, the smallest details and gives them lyricism.

Worse: Not being nominated for an Oscar.