The Blue Caftan Review (2024)

The Blue Caftan Review 

Synopsis

Married couple Mina and Halim own a respected Caftan shop in the depths of a paroled Morocco. As Mina’s health deteriorates, repressed troubles begin to arise for Halim when they invite a young trainee, Youseff, in to cope with the advancing workload.

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You are instantly mesmerised by the montage of close ups of “petroleum blue” silken fabric, being lovingly pinned by Halim, a hardworking sewer and one the three protagonists we follow throughout Maryam Touzani’s intricate tale of love. Placed upon these images of flowing material is an equally haunting score by Kristian Eidnes Andersen, introducing us to the world of Mina, Halim and young Caftan trainee Yousef. 

The extreme intimacy of The Blue Caftan is placed and sewn as lovingly as Halim’s own delicate art shown through the many beautifully crafted Caftans we see on screen. Touzani’s distinct style of filmmaking allows us to get extremely close to the emotional depths we witness on screen, the nature of her style feels completely reflective of the personal and innermost unspoken journey of these characters.

Quickly we understand the longstanding codependency between Mina and Halim, their traditional Caftan shop is their lifeline, important more than ever that they keep the shop running as smoothly as possible in fear of the future. Youssef a young trainee is hired to help and train in the art of caftan and the dynamic between the three is uncomfortable as tensions build. What could be possibly seen as nothing out of the ordinary moments between mentor and trainee are transformed into moments of intense yearning and sincere appreciation. The close up shots we see of Halim and Youseff’s hands grazing, eyes staring while everything around these images is a blur only reiterating the all consuming nature that is growing between them. 

There is much bubbling underneath the surface for Mina also as she notices these moments, she accuses Yousef of stealing a fabric and threatens to dock his pay but the fight she craves to occur is plighted by Yousef’s determined pride. The nature of every action of Mina, Yousef and Halim contains a million different meanings and thoughts, captured ardently through Touzani’s soft yet boldly powerful filmic style.

The consistent use of hand-held cameras gives a sense of realism along with use of immersive diegetic sound, placing you very much inside of the Moroccan medinas. The blur surrounding the intimate close up shots works in creating a fly-on-the-wall-esque feel to what we see and feel between these tightly placed characters. In between these hand-held slow moving medium and close up shots, we get well placed still shots that show the viewer again how cinematographer Virginie Surdej balances light and shadow, I refer to a beautiful shot of Halim sat down in the saunas, Surdej is able to encapsulate his sacrifice in rejecting Yousef’s previous admissions of love, a gorgeously efficient way. 

Soon Mina’s health declines faster than both she and Halim would have predicted and we are introduced to a level of love, trust, love and respect between them that transcends, a contextual understanding which goes on to create a deeper empathetic notion for the viewer. We see Mina’s resentment and defences fade away, when very ill she allows herself to admit she knew Yousef did not steal the fabric she accused him of. Begging for forgiveness from him, we see Yousef break down and cry in reaction, running from her. With the camera following him closely, consistently focusing on their hands and faces, we see Halim comfort Yousef. As always, within this scene there is so much said out loud and yet still unspoken, through Touzani’s careful direction you are immersed in a world of pure emotion and you pull every contextual feeling from the scenes we are given. Yousef soon becomes an integral part of Mina and Halim’s lives as time goes on.

The portrayal of different kinds of love in The Blue Caftan feels integral to its story of these people's lives, entwined together as an entwined string sewn upon the perfectly crafted Caftans made by Halim everyday. It is an extremely human story of lust, acceptance, love, trust, sacrifice and more, depicted in a powerful and yet understated way. Every image, sentence, sound has several different implications and significance. It is an equal joy to feel and find them.