The Blue Caftan
Strand Releasing | Release Date: February 10, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonFeb 16, 2023
The Blue Caftan, like its title garment, has a handmade, lived-in quality, an authenticity that marks Touzani — a former journalist making her second feature — a director to watch. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesCarlos AguilarFeb 10, 2023
An exquisitely tender tribute to love in its purest expression, The Blue Caftan doesn’t romanticize the complications and conflicts facing its two soulmates, and precisely because of that it feels like an utterly honest tale of romance. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyAug 3, 2022
This is compelling storytelling by any standard, its supple rhythms hypnotic, its atmosphere potent and its prevailing hushed tone and intimate camerawork affording us the closest possible access to three characters who in turn are constantly studying one another. The actors playing those three points of a complicated triangle could not be better. Read full review
100
The PlaylistMarya E. GatesJul 29, 2022
The Blue Caftan deftly explores the complexities of interpersonal and romantic relationships. Halim, Mina, and Youssef share a love for each other and for their shared craft. They want to find happiness in this life without any regard for how society dictates they should. Touzani’s film is a rich, vibrant ode to love in all its many forms. Read full review
91
IndieWireChristian ZilkoAug 3, 2022
The Blue Caftan is a film about the many different kinds of love — romantic, platonic, familial, sexual — and the ways they can’t help but intersect at complicated moments in our lives. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Roxana HadadiFeb 14, 2023
Maryam Touzani’s film is as precise and vivid as its titular garment. Read full review
90
Screen DailyJonathan RomneyAug 3, 2022
The Blue Caftan is a keenly tuned, non-judgmental exploration of an enduring relationship that has thrived despite the stresses of conflicting desires and the pressures of social norms. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineDiego SemereneFeb 6, 2023
The film is best experienced by simply wallowing in the lushness of its fabrics, sartorial and symbolic alike, refusing the temptation to unspool its poetic parallels. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeMay 8, 2023
It’s a gentle piece of Arabic-language storytelling, one that softly, slowly enfolds the audience rather than propels them on a journey. Read full review
80
The GuardianCath ClarkeMay 3, 2023
At times I wondered if the film is a bit too tasteful and tactful about the pain that Halim and Mina have to suppress, but still it’s a hugely compassionate and emotionally satisfying movie. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDevika GirishFeb 9, 2023
Touzani’s film becomes an ode to the many kinds of love that persist, even in an unforgiving world. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyFeb 10, 2023
The situations in this scrupulous, compassionate, and quietly captivating picture, written and directed by Maryam Touzani, are tense, to be sure. But the movie itself doesn’t surrender to the tension. It depicts unruly passions as they stir the lives of circumspect characters. Read full review
70
The Irish TimesTara BradyMay 5, 2023
A triumvirate of superb performances and 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. Read full review
70
Little White LiesMarina AshiotiMay 5, 2023
Touzani steers clear of easy clichés and pitfalls that the film’s premise might suggest, giving a masterclass in restraint. and it’s Azabal’s exceptional portrayal of Mina, rather than Bakri’s Hamil, that emerges as the film’s beating heart. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeAug 3, 2022
The Blue Caftan dares to imagine a world where there’s room for both appreciation of the old ways and room to evolve. Read full review
40
TheWrapDan CallahanFeb 10, 2023
It is basically a standard triangle drama that has been stretched out to an interminable length. Read full review
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