This movie is wonderfully emblematic of both the pains and the joys of building something to last.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 18, 2024

an achingly rich tale of conquering love [that is] sewn together with great care and attention as Touzani refuses to let the film descend into melodrama

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jul 4, 2024

It’s also a love letter to the movies, laced with nostalgia for a simpler, analogue age... The rise of British nationalism in the Thatcher era lends grit and gives the drama a kick in the pants whenever it threatens to topple over into sentiment.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 8, 2023

Woven with exquisite care and respect, Maryam Touzani’s Arabic language drama depicts a love triangle of a middle-aged couple and a young man who works in their small tailoring business in a Moroccan town.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 8, 2023

When you have an optimum balance between actors in a state of grace, unblemished scenarios, complexity of feelings, spontaneous slices of humor, and quiet voluptuousness, then you know you are in good hands.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 3, 2023

It's a tender story, infused with passion, hope and sensitivity.

| Original Score: A- | Jun 27, 2023

What at first appears to be a story of secret lives and betrayal destined for a tragic end becomes a nuanced portrait of unconditional love and acceptance at its most radical.

| Jun 8, 2023

This is a tender, beautiful film. Not only is it visually rich but there’s an above-average soundtrack...

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 18, 2023

Grace and generosity are the life force of Maryam Touzani’s lyrical reflection on love.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 18, 2023

Writer/director Maryam Touzani brings a great deal of poignancy to an extremely well-directed, intimate drama that deserves plaudits for its subtlety, character nuance and its daring exploration of a topic deemed transgressive by local custom.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 17, 2023

The warmth of Maryam Touzani and Nabil Ayouch’s screenplay offset the clumsier tropes. Virginie Surdej’s cinematography bathes daylit scenes in golden light to match the thread Halim uses on his petroleum-blue creation.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 12, 2023

This haunting film is about the quiet love and tenderness that people may have for each other, which makes the ordinary extraordinary.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 12, 2023

Through her characters and her cast’s sensitive performances, Touzani explores different kinds of affection in this love triangle.

| May 9, 2023

It’s a gentle piece of Arabic-language storytelling, one that softly, slowly enfolds the audience rather than propels them on a journey.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 8, 2023

ll three characters cherish delicate, finely embroidered clothes and know that emotions must also be handled with care.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 5, 2023

The film, only the second feature that Maryam Touzani has directed, is a stunning portrayal of marital sacrifice and devotion.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 5, 2023

... The unapologetically accessible The Blue Caftan is something of a high-class tear-jerker, but of a mature, insightful kind.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 4, 2023

... slow-moving but intense, gradually revealing the complexities of the main characters’ relationships.

| Original Score: 8/10 | May 4, 2023

Intimacy in its purest, most palpable form.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 4, 2023

Yes, the final outcome may be somewhat inevitable from early on, but it is also both fitting and truly emotionally satisfying.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 3, 2023