Halim (Saleh Bakhri of The Band’s Visit) and his wife Mina (Lubna Azabal) run a shop that specializes in traditional khaftans—he does the sewing while she handles the business end. They inherited the shop from Halim’s father, a maalem (master) of his work, and take great pride in the skill and effort that goes into the hand-stitched, ornately embroidered garments they sell. They’re fast becoming dinosaurs, however: while some customers in their small Moroccan town value the fact that Halim makes caftans the old-fashioned way, others wonder why they don’t join the modern world and use a sewing machine. As one points out, their purist approach is likely to go unappreciated because these days “no one can tell the difference between hand-made and machine-made.”
Making things by hand takes a lot of time, and the shop is overwhelmed with orders. Fortunately, Halim and Mina find a young man eager to apprentice with them: Youssef (Ayoub Missioui), who seems to appreciate the hand-made details of the caftans as much as they do. Halim praises the young man, saying he’s genuinely interested in learning their craft, but Mina is more suspicious, saying he’ll soon quit and take a job as a delivery driver or sell vegetables in the market. That she makes these comparisons is a good indication of the low regard in which hand-tailoring work is held by the general public, however skillful that work may be. Still, this is the life they chose, and they need the help, so they take a chance of Youssef.
It turns out Mina was right to be suspicious, although for the wrong reason. If her husband’s glance seems to linger a bit too long on the handsome young man, it’s not just avuncular affection at work—Halim has also been spending time in the backrooms of the local steam bath. Meanwhile, Mina is suffering from an illness which seems to be getting worse, yet she refuses medical care, saying “It’s in God’s hands now.”
Maryam Touzani’s The Blue Caftan is slow-moving but intense, gradually revealing the complexities of the main characters’ relationships. If they can’t always say exactly what they’re thinking or feeling, the difference is made up by actions that really do speak louder than words. For all their reticence, however, the intensity of their relationships comes across loud and clear. It’s easy to see why Morocco chose this as their entry for the 2023 Best International Film Oscar, and also easy to see why it didn’t win—it’s a beautifully made film that is essentially one long slow burn without enough easy payoffs to charm impatient voters.
Virginie Surdej’s cinematography is one of the most appealing aspects of The Blue Caftan, which was shot in Salé, a town in northwestern Morocco whose roots date back to the 11th century. Surdej, whose previous films include In Syria, By the Name of Tania, and Our Mothers, captures the quiet rhythms of Halim and Mina’s lives and the sensuality of the fabrics and braiding and golden thread that is the stock of their trade. Her work also places the story firmly in context, from the warmly lit interior scenes to the many exterior shots of the winding streets and small shops of the medina (traditional area) where Halim, Mina, and Youssef live and work. | Sarah Boslaugh
The Blue Caftan will screen at the Hi-Pointe Theatre on May 4 at 7 pm as part of QFest St. Louis 2023. Single film tickets are $15 for general admission, $12 for Cinema St. Louis members and students with valid current photo IDs. Further information is available from the festival web site.
