Never has silk been photographed more sensually or evocatively than in The Blue Caftan, a new film by Maryam Touzani, which opened in theaters around Israel on April 25.
That fabric is at the center of a moving drama about a couple in a small Moroccan city who make silk caftans in their workshop, which turns into an unusual love triangle.
Touzani, an accomplished Moroccan filmmaker, also cowrote the screenplay with her husband, director Nabil Ayouch, and the couple are among the most important Moroccan directors working today.
Reviewing the love triangle
Caftans have never looked lovelier than they do in this film, which stars Saleh Bakri – best known in Israel for his Ophir Award-winning performance in Eran Kolirin’s The Band’s Visit – as Halim, who is a maalem, or master tailor, and runs a shop in a medina with his wife, Mina (Lubna Azabal, who starred in the Oscar-nominated films Incendies and Paradise Now, as well as Guy Nattiv and Erez Tadmor’s Strangers).
She keeps their shop organized and sets the prices, while he has amazing sewing and tailoring skills, and creates every garment through hours of meticulous work, each stitch a labor of love and each finished caftan a work of art.
But the two are feeling the pressure of working in a traditional craft, which has been handed down in families for generations, in the fast-paced modern world. Few truly understand how labor-intensive their work is, and people don’t want to pay – and wait – for quality. The couple are slowly but surely losing their customers and feel pressure to produce more caftans more quickly. But you can’t rush art, and no matter how hard Halim tries, he can’t force himself to compromise quality for speed.
They are also under pressure because Mina is dying of cancer. She still manages to bargain with customers for good prices, but she is weakening and worries how Halim will carry on the business without her, although he never wants to talk about this.
In their marriage, there is another issue that they never speak about: Halim is gay, and while he loves Mina, they are more like best friends than husband and wife, and he is truly attracted only to men.
When a new apprentice, Youssef (Ayoub Missioui), comes to learn the trade and help Halim, Mina can’t turn a blind eye, as she realizes Halim and Youssef are falling deeply in love. All the treatments for the cancer have failed, and she struggles to overcome her jealousy and find the strength to give Halim her blessing to build a relationship with Youssef when she is gone.
In the community where they live, being openly gay is not an option. Although there are other gay men, as Halim knows well, their sexual and romantic lives are hidden. Living a happy secret life with another man may be possible, though, with everyone acknowledging them as good friends.
The irony that the film examines is that while Halim is completely devoted to the traditional way of caftan-making, where his skill as a tailor and embroiderer gives him a special place in society, being gay makes him an outsider who would be driven out of his community if people knew. If he were to rebel against his community’s homophobia, he would lose the chance to work there as a craftsman/artist.
On the other hand, if he were to make the break and move with his lover to a big city in Morocco or Europe, where they would be able to live more openly, he would be forced to give up his artistic identity and work as a laborer. No one in major cities would want to pay for this kind of craftsmanship anymore – there are machine-made caftans available that are not as beautiful as the work Halim does, but they are good enough for many people.
Halim faces a real dilemma and a heartbreaking choice, and also has to cope with his heartbreak over Mina’s imminent death. The story of their love and flawed marriage is very touching, and becomes more so as the story progresses. It may leave you wondering how many couples you know have lived a story like this without anyone realizing.
IN A slow-paced, atmospheric movie like this, everything rises and falls on the performances, and the trio of actors at the movie’s center do extraordinary work.
Azabal is able to show Mina’s strength but also the toll it has taken on her to keep Halim’s secret all these years.
Bakri has movie-star presence in whatever role he plays, and while he will always be remembered as the handsome Egyptian who gives dating advice to a bumbling Israeli guy in The Band’s Visit, here he manages to be convincing as an older, more reserved man who has been humbled by life.
The complex story develops at a pace that befits the setting, a small, traditional community, where little has changed in centuries. If you can allow yourself to be swept into the characters’ lives, you will be rewarded with a touching film about the many incarnations of love, although for some it will be too slow.
But it’s an interesting glimpse into a world most of us know little about. Touzani is especially successful at showing the beauty of the garments Halim creates, and you understand why he and Mina take such pride in them. You will leave the theater with a deeper appreciation of traditional craftsmanship.