Looking forward to watch The Blue Caftan film directed by Maryam Touzani? It stars Lubna Azabal, Saleh Bakri and Ayoub Missioui. Read our review below.
Review
We use the word ‘masterpiece’ very often in describing our movie experiences, so that when a real masterpiece turns up, we fall short of words.
“The Blue Caftan” is a Moroccan Masterpiece par excellence in Arabic. Its refined quality of expression can hardly be doubted with its use of telling silences and message of forgiveness. So when Mina (the absolutely endearing Lubna Azabal), who pierces everything with her gaze, notices an increasing bond between her husband Halim (Saleh Bakri) a tailor and their new apprentice Yusuf (Ayoub Missiou), she reacts at first out of mean spirit then gradual acceptance of something she had been keeping all through her marriage: her kind considerate husband is gay.
Okay, fine. All fingers point at Mammootty’s wife who does not actually mean any harm to him and discloses his true identity as Kadhal: The Core – the latest Jeo Baby Malayalam gem. To put it mildly, “The Blue Caftan” is more poetic. There are always the unspoken recriminations that accompany the long-kept secret about Mina-Halim’s marriage.
The oppressive social milieu is palpable everywhere. Finally one day in a slow restless narration Mina insists on going out to a noisy café. On their way back they are stopped by policemen. Mina feels humiliated; Halim takes it stoically; he knows how to deal with uncomfortable inquiries; but she doesn’t.
Ironically enough it is Mina not Halim who comes out as accepting his oppressed anguished existence as his fate so eloquently so to speak. Mrs rebels against her loving husband’s unquestioning compliance with a life locked in the closet. The fact that she is dying may be the main reason behind her compassionate reception of Yusuf into her life. It is as if she can give her spouse to his young apprentice as a farewell gift.
The sequence in which three people, who are locked in unorthodox triangle of acceptance and forgiveness, dance at the window to a rhythm wafting into the room , is probably the most liberating moment of celebration I have seen in recent times.
The two leads, particularly Lubna Azabel are amazingly comfortable with their unusual marriage. Mina never loses her spirit despite fading rapidly away. When Halim tells her that she has not been eating (due to sickness), Mina twirls round and pacifies him by saying that she’s just getting ready to become a runway model. Saleh Bakri hardly talks anything but his tormented eyes speak volumes.
This final interlude is tragic and magnificent beyond words. The blue caftan metaphorically speaking with its intricate embroidery and unparalleled longevity perfectly reflects what Maryam Touzani achieves in this beautifully stitched poem on celluloid.
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