Adam

This Moroccan film Adam stands out as a rare gem in the Arab world for its focus on women’s stories. At its heart, it is a healing journey between two women—both abandoned or left without the protection of men. One is an unwed pregnant woman, the other a single mother. In a society shaped by Arab-Islamic patriarchy and religious traditions, life is especially difficult for women in such circumstances.

Through their shared experiences and daily interactions, the two women begin to find meaning in life again. They offer each other a quiet, gentle light—a warmth born of empathy and kindness—that helps to heal the deep emotional wounds they carry. By the end, there is a sense that both will emerge stronger and more independent, with a deeper love and appreciation for their own lives.

Maryam Touzani and her husband Nabil Ayouch (who is also her films’ producer) are both from Morocco. While the latter has already had 9 feature films under his belt (which include ALI ZAOUA: PRINCE OF THE STREETS, 2000, HORSES OF GOD, 2012), Touzani has only 2, she also dallies with performing in front of the camera (a prominent role in her husband’s RAZZIA 2017).

Both ADAM and THE BLUE CAFTAN debut in Cannes’s Un Certain Regard section, they are intimate character-based portrayals communing with universal feelings, self-contained in a handful of characters, and crafted with astonishing finesse.

ADAM is an encomium of female bond, motherhood and maternal struggling, which it doesn’t cheapen with schmaltz. Samia (Erradi) and Abla (Azabal), a widowed baker, are total strangers. Abla’s sympathy towards Samia takes some time to gel and has its own boundary. At first blush, like other people, Abla also frowns upon Samia’s unwed mother situation, only out of conscience, she cannot bear to see her sleep rough on the street, a tentative arrangement is proposed, a pregnant Samia can couch-surf for a few days, and Abla is obstinate enough to repudiate Samia’s help, she acts like a Good Samaritan, her charity doesn’t need to be rewarded in kind.

Abla’s flinty facade echoes Samia’s own obduracy, she is knocked up out of wedlock, hiding her pregnancy from her family, she has no intention to keep her child, all she hopes is that after the baby is delivered, she can return home as if nothing has ever happened. A third character is Warda (Belkhaouda), Abla’s school-age daughter, who is stereotyped as a moral compass to bridge the gap between the two adult women, to somewhat cutesy extent.

In time, the two women gradually open up to each other. Sharing a sisterly bond, Samia will jolt Abla out of her grief-ridden carapace to embrace music and possibly a new romance, reciprocally, Abla will tide her over during her travail, but leave her to do the cardinal decision, concerning the future of Adam, her newborn baby.

The film is crafted with a tacit understanding that it is a woman’s picture, the sterner sex is absolutely ancillary, almost nonexistent, no mentioning of the baby’s father, Abla’s deceased husband is nothing more than a vague shadow, what matters is the two women’s growing strength in withstanding the hardship, the uncertainty imposed in front of them, and the sinews are the undimmed humanity resides in every one of us.

THE BLUE CAFTAN tackles another taboo in the Moroccan society, closeted homosexuality. Mina (Azabal) and Halim (Bakri) are a childless, middle-aged couple running a tailor shop, Halim is a sublime artisan for his sartorial faculty, the latest order of a blue caftan demands him to work more, just as Mina’s health deteriorates (it only reveals later what afflicts her, which also hits an emotional apogee that deepens Halim and Mina’s connection).

Also, Halim is a homosexual and his guarded interaction with the shop’s new apprentice Youssef (Missioui, a standard knockout) intimates that mutual attraction is brewing in the air, but Touzani doesn’t deign to queer-bait, the homoerotic atmosphere is calibrated just to be perceptible, and THE BLUE CAFTAN is all about a marriage of convenience and the toll takes on both parties. Mina knows Halim’s sexual orientation, which explains why she casts a leery eye on Youssef and her hostility towards him.

Can there be true love between a gay man and a straight woman? THE BLUE CAFTAN contends for a more complex, compromised symbiosis: to Halim, what he has is an appreciation of Mina’s understanding and tolerance, the guilt towards his alterity and her year-long sacrifice; to Mina, it is obvious that she still desires him and suffers from the sexual inefficacy, but she endures without verbal complaint and manages to love him despite of that. Under such milieu, it is almost as good as a gay man could get.

In both films, their titles can be read as symbols of female sacrifice and dedication, Adam is the name of Samia’s newborn son, whom she must give up in order to regain a semblance of normal life and the superfine blue caftan is Halim’s final gift to Mina, for all her contribution and support. By obfuscating temporality, no specific time is pinpointed, Touzani’s films are timeless jewels and her acumen of capturing arresting palette, texture and emotion point blank is her claim to fame, THE BLUE CAFTAN is also graced by an eclectic score which is germane to Moroccan folkways.

Both films boast incredible performances, a gaunt-looking Azabal is a tower of pillar in both, her Abla’s bark is worse than her bite whereas her Mina exhibits an astonishing physical exertion. Nonetheless, in both films, she is pipped to the post by her co-stars, in ADAM, Erred is utterly mesmerizing in the money shots where Samia’s maternal affection imperceptibly switches into an infanticidal impulse, her outpourings are so convincing, in a fleeting moment, spectators are petrified by what seems happening! In THE BLUE CAFTAN, it is Bakri who remains as a constant source of emotive expressions, his Halim is a taciturn magnet that grabs audience by the throat, he is the quintessential man who needs a substantial hug, and being apprised that there is no need to carry all the burden on his shoulders, no matter how manly it makes him look.

referential entries: Denis Villeneuve’s INCENDIES (2010, 7.9/10), Michael Mayer’s OUT IN THE DARK (2012, 7.9/10), Eran Kolirin’s THE BANDS VISIT (2007, 7.7/10).

Title: Adam Year: 2019 Genre: Drama Country: Morocco, France, Belgium, Qatar Language: Arabic Director/Screenwriter: Maryam Touzani Cinematography: Virginie Surdej Editor: Julie Naas Cast: Lubna Azabal Nisrin Erred Douae Belkhaouda Aziz Hattab Rating: 7.5/10

English Title: The Blue Caftan Original Title: Le bleu du caftan Year: 2022 Genre: Drama Country: Morocco, France, Belgium, Denmark Language: Arabic Director: Maryam Touzani Screenwriters: Maryam Touzani, Nabil Ayouch Music: Kristian Eidnes Andersen Cinematography: Virginie Surdej Editor: Nicolas Rumpl Cast: Lubna Azabal Saleh Bakri Ayoub Missioui Mounia Lamkimel Rating: 7.7/10