A love story unlike any other. The love of craft & beauty, love of another person, the romantic love of two people at once, love of life itself & the love for the simplest things in life that give life meaning.
It is set in an independant caftan store in a small town in Morocco where the husband & wife owner craft hand stitched, quality caftans against the backdrop of a modernising trade that uses machinery. Customers are demanding, often impatient & the craft of hand made caftans is slowly losing to quickly made caftans via sewing machines.
You appreciate the value of craftsmanship, passion & the process involved through the intimate filming & sheer amount of time it takes to hand stitch a caftan.
The husband is secretly gay & starts to develop feelings for the new apprentice. His wife, who he dearly loves likely knows but loves him for who he is. This exploration of sexuality & free expression in the small town setting is heart wrenching as is the way the movie depicts the husbands love for his increasingly sick wife.
It makes you think about what love really is. With the sick wife facing her mortality, she still holds on to her sense of duty while making the most of the simplest things in life.
The apprentice adds an interesting dynamic & shows the loyalty of the husband when his wife truly needs him despite him also being sexually interested in men.
The music, setting, foods, drinks, hamams & clothing give an intimate insight in to small town Moroccan life. The creation & eventual destination of the Blue Caftan is a metaphor for how we might choose to make decisions in life based on love, rather than just money.
A powerful, philosophical, tender & heartwrenching movie that makes you feel. Well done!
