Poster
Watch

The Blue Caftan

أزرق القفطان

  • Status: Released
  • 10-02-2023
  • Runtime: 122 min
  • Score: 7.322
  • Vote count: 132

A middle-aged tailor and his wife find their relationship challenged by the arrival of a handsome new apprentice.

Lubna Azabal

Mina

Saleh Bakri

Halim

Ayoub Messioui

Youssef

Zakaria Atifi

Bachir

Mounia Lamkimel

Blue Caftan Client

Abdelhamid Zoughi

Doctor

Fatima Hilal

Boutique Customer

Mariam Lalouaz

Boutique Customer

Kholoud El Ouehabi

Boutique Customer

Amira Tiouli

Boutique Customer

Hanaa Laidi

Boutique Customer

Aymane El Oarrari

Boutique Customer's Child

Ilyass El Ouahdani

Boutique Customer's Child

Fouzia Ejjawi

Fatna

Mohamed Naimane

Bathhouse Employee

Mohamed Tahri Joutey Hassani

Police Officer

Abdellah Lebkiri

Man in Bathhouse

Driss Diouri

Man in Bathhouse

Ilham Chakib

Neighbor

Abdelrhafor Essolh

Tangerine Vendor

Nourredine Aim

Tangerine Vendor

Hassan Boudour

Moha

Naima Boudra

Saleswoman

Fatima Laaraj

Mortuary Washer

Kahija Toufik

Mortuary Washer

CinemaSerf

"Halim" (Saleh Bakri) lives with his ailing wife "Mina" (Lubna Azabal) and together they run a small tailoring business. Now he is a master craftsman, everything is measured, cut and stitched by hand - a fairly labour intensive and time consuming process. To help meet the demands of his impatient customers, he has acquired an handsome apprentice "Youssef" (Ayoub Missioui) who takes a keen interest in his work and demonstrates an aptitude that is increasingly appreciated by "Halim". What's also fairly obvious is that both men are attracted to each other and we now embark on a rather delicate triangle in which the two men - entirely platonically - develop their relationship under the watchful gaze of his wife whom we suspect suspects, but... It's a very gently paced film this, allowing the three strong performances from these on-form character actors to develop slowly and engagingly and though the underpinning issues of sexuality in a country that is still largely unwelcoming is part of the theme, it is not a greater a part than the observation of the couple's happy marriage nor of the creative beauty of the men's skills at creating garments of delicacy and fineness. It's a film about discovery and family and I found it worked really quite well as we navigate a myriad of challenges towards the conclusion that, like the rest of this story, is anything but simple. It's quite observational in nature, so don't expect things to rattle along - they don't, but it draws together threads of lives and choices in as intricate a fashion as any of his creations and is really well worth a watch.

RedaX*

Very mediocre and not a step-up from Meryam Touzani's first feature which was also an okay film. The relationship between the three main characters wasn't dynamic or memorable. The moments when the film was trying to go deep with the relationship of the characters or their past didn't bring us closer to the characters. And I have to say that Loubna Azabal and Saleh Bakri Moroccan dialect isn't compelling and it was a barrier between us - the audience - and the characters.