As Mina gets increasingly sick, her body withering away, her husband dotes on her: He washes her hair, helps her change, brings the sweetness of a fruit to her lips. But underneath the genuinely tender moments shared by this on-screen Moroccan couple simmers a longing 鈥� of a forbidden kind.
In her latest film, 鈥淭he Blue Caftan,鈥� Moroccan director Maryam Touzani delicately weaves intricate, overlapping tales of love, both traditional and largely taboo for many in her country and as she tells the story of a woman and her secretly gay husband who together run a shop making caftans. The marriage grows more complicated when the couple hires a male apprentice.
Wading into socially sensitive subjects is not unfamiliar terrain for Touzani who has won accolades at international film festivals and, just recently, was a jury member at this year鈥檚 Cannes Film Festival. 鈥淭he Blue Caftan,鈥� which had been shortlisted in the international feature film category for the 95th Academy Awards, is scheduled for release Wednesday in Morocco, where gay sex is illegal.
鈥淚鈥檓 really hoping that it would be able to trigger a debate about the LGBT community and its place 鈥�, things that we don鈥檛 generally talk about because they are sensitive subjects,鈥� Touzani told The Associated Press. 鈥淔or a healthy society, it鈥檚 important to be able to talk about everything.鈥�
Some disagree.
In Rabat, 27-year-old Laila Sahraoui argued some topics are best left behind closed doors.
鈥淢oroccans 鈥� worry that their kids could imitate such ideas,鈥� she said, adding that she wouldn鈥檛 watch the film. 鈥淏ecause of our Islam, we don鈥檛 like such things in Morocco. 鈥� It鈥檚 absolutely not appropriate for our society.鈥�
But Touzani, 42, said others shared with her how important it was to portray characters like Halim, the husband.
鈥淢orocco is a very complex country where there are very different points of view coexisting,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about being able to just push certain boundaries and just to question certain things. ... That鈥檚 what art can help us do as well, cinema especially.鈥�
Filmmaker Nabil Ayouch, Touzani鈥檚 husband who co-wrote 鈥淭he Blue Caftan鈥� with her and is its main producer, said he is curious about moviegoers鈥� reactions, but feels confident.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a younger and younger audience and they want to see new type of movies, new type of cinemas in the Arab world,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he more conservative audience will probably not be very pleased.鈥�
Part of art鈥檚 role, Ayouch said, is to disturb, to stir debate.
While he welcomes the recognition their movies garner abroad, he said it鈥檚 important for films like 鈥淭he Blue Caftan鈥� also to be experienced by audiences at home and in the Arab world.
For those having to "live their sexuality secretly,鈥� he said, 鈥渇ilms like this one can give them some courage to face who they are more publicly.鈥�
In 鈥淭he Blue Caftan,鈥� Mina, the wife, has a sense of humor and a feisty side that she uses to protect her husband, who considers her his 鈥渞ock.鈥� She鈥檚 an observant Muslim; viewers repeatedly watch her pray.
Halim is a man torn. He has a gentle soul and takes pride in his craft 鈥� correcting a customer on a fabric鈥檚 exact shade of blue 鈥� while catering to shoppers in a changing world, with little patience for the time he takes to embroider by hand. He loves his wife, even as he slips into a cabin at a public bathhouse for secret sexual encounters with men.
Sexual tension builds up between him and the male apprentice, Youssef. As Mina鈥檚 health falters, Youssef increasingly helps the couple and a love triangle of sorts ensues.
Ultimately, Touzani said, it鈥檚 a movie about 鈥渓ove in its many forms.鈥�
That includes love for the traditional craft of caftan embroidery, with sensual scenes of fabrics and stitches.
鈥淥ne of the things I wanted to show in this film is the beauty of certain traditions,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here are other traditions that 鈥� need to be questioned,鈥� she added, citing scenes when Halim challenges some burial rituals.
In one scene, Halim asks for Mina鈥檚 forgiveness, telling her that all his life he has tried in vain to get rid of 鈥渢his thing.鈥� She tells him she鈥檚 proud to have been his wife, then rests her head on his shoulder.
Being a woman of faith didn鈥檛 stop Mina from understanding her husband, Touzani said.
鈥淲e have the tendency of saying, 鈥榃ell, if you are religious, then you cannot be this or you cannot be that.鈥� I believe that we can be many things at the same time because we are such complex beings.鈥�
Smail, a Moroccan LGBTQ rights activist who identifies as nonbinary, saw the movie abroad and said it showed that 鈥渓ove is for everyone.鈥� Asking to be identified by first name only due to the sensitivity of the topic, Smail added: 鈥淲hen we advocate for more personal freedoms in Morocco, we hear that the people won鈥檛 accept that ... but through Mina鈥檚 example, we have a glimmer of hope because Mina is one of the people.鈥�
Ahmed Benchemsi, a spokesperson for Human Rights Watch, said that while the number of those prosecuted for gay sex in Morocco 鈥渋s relatively low鈥� and the topic of homosexuality is less of a taboo there than it used to be, 鈥渢he law is still there and it hangs over the heads of everybody.鈥�
Online, before the Morocco release of 鈥淭he Blue Caftan,鈥� some praised Touzani鈥檚 work as powerful and moving; others accused her of courting the West and catering to its sensibilities over issues more relevant to Moroccans.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 make cinema to please anybody,鈥� Touzani said. 鈥淚 just want to be as truthful as possible to my characters and to the stories I want to tell.鈥�
Touzani鈥檚 feature-film directing debut, 鈥淎dam,鈥� tells the story of two women whose lives intersect when one takes in the other, an unmarried stranger who鈥檚 looking for a place to stay until she gives birth after getting pregnant. She talks about plans to give away her baby to shield him from the stigma that would otherwise mar his future.
It was inspired by Touzani鈥檚 parents hosting a woman who showed up at their doorstep under similar circumstances. When Touzani was pregnant with her son, she felt 鈥渢he violence鈥� that the woman endured in having to relinquish her baby because 鈥渟ocially she couldn鈥檛 do otherwise.鈥�
Broaching topics 鈥渦nspoken of in Arab and Islamic societies鈥� is one common thread between 鈥淎dam鈥� and 鈥淭he Blue Caftan,鈥� said film critic Cherqui Ameur.
鈥淲e hope to have fewer taboos in our society through discussing all issues,鈥� he said.
In 2015, 鈥淢uch Loved,鈥� a movie directed and written by Ayouch, in which Touzani worked in various capacities, was barred from release in the country. Authorities at the time charged that the movie, portraying female sex workers, was offensive to Moroccan women and values. The movie, excerpts from which appeared online, sparked uproar; it was defended by some on freedom of expression and human-interest grounds and criticized by others who said its language was crude and scenes too explicit.
Born in Tangier to a Moroccan father and Moroccan-Spanish mother, Touzani, an avid reader, studied journalism in London but eventually turned to filmmaking.
She said she gravitates toward telling stories of people on the margins. On the screen, she wants to give them the voice they may not have and the possibilities that may not exist in real life.
鈥淭hese are the people that inspire me, that touch me, that haunt me,鈥� Touzani said. 鈥淭hese are the people that really make their way inside my heart and stay there naturally without me looking for it.鈥�
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP鈥檚 with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Mariam Fam, The Associated Press
