The Blue Caftan Review
Gripping and visceral, while The Blue Caftan deals with soul-crushing content, it never wallows in it; instead giving us an uplifting, lovely and gritty tale of love in all its forms.
Halim (Saleh Bakri) is a middle-aged tailor, whose wife Mina (Lubna Azabal) is terminally ill. As her illness worsens, the pair also face the mounting financial pressure from their work, with Halim falling ever more behind on their order backlog. In comes Youssef (Ayoub Missioui), a young handsome apprentice, who turns their lives upside down.
The Blue Caftan deals with some really intense topics; hidden homosexuality, terminal illness and breast cancer, the keeping of a long held secret and what the outing of that secret can do to a relationship. But what is most impressive about Maryam Touzani’s take on the material that she has written is that through all the darkness in The Blue Caftan, she maintains the joy, romance and laughter of life.
Bakri is fantastically engaging as Halim, with a contextual and nuanced performance that feels muted, but never quiet. He brings a calm quiet to the role that exudes years of restraint and carefully selected reactions, movements and emotions. But while his performance is undoubtedly good, he is overshadowed in every scene he has with the absolutely fantastic Azabal.
Azabal gives a tour de force performance that is, frankly, stunning. She breathes life into this movie in every scene, bringing a warmth and love to her character’s relationship with Halim that speaks to the multitudinous facets of love in every sense. Whether she’s breaking your heart, making you laugh, or making you dance, Azabal is unmissable in this movie.
The Blue Caftan won’t be for everyone. It’s gritty and real in its depictions, and doesn’t pull any punches. But it’s also a little bit brilliant. There’s love, warmth and compassion in every scene, and the true wealth of emotion on display is remarkable. This is pain, but also joy, and Touzani shows a uniquely effective grip on the interrelationship between the two.
