Venice 2025 | TheWorldScreen Review By Hanan Fahd | TheWorldScreen VENICE, Italy — Few filmmakers understand the quiet beauty of everyday human rela
Venice 2025 | TheWorldScreen Review
By Hanan Fahd | TheWorldScreen
VENICE, Italy — Few filmmakers understand the quiet beauty of everyday human relationships as delicately as Moroccan director Maryam Touzani. Following the international acclaim of The Blue Caftan, she returns with Calle Malaga, a warm and emotionally generous drama that explores aging, family, belonging, and the meaning of home through the unforgettable performance of Spanish screen icon Carmen Maura.
Premiering at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival before continuing its festival journey to Toronto, Calle Malaga arrives as Morocco’s official submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, reaffirming Touzani’s position as one of North Africa’s most distinctive cinematic voices.
While its story unfolds with simplicity, the film quietly builds into a moving reflection on dignity, independence, and the emotional ties that bind people to the places they call home.
A Home Filled With Memories
Maria Angeles has spent decades building a peaceful life in Tangier.
Widowed but far from defeated, she enjoys a daily routine that connects her to the vibrant streets, neighborhood merchants, familiar faces, and cherished memories that define her existence. Every object inside her apartment tells part of her story, transforming the modest home into a living archive of love, family, and personal history.
When her daughter Clara unexpectedly announces plans to sell the apartment, Maria Angeles suddenly finds herself confronting a painful reality shared by many elderly people around the world: the fear of losing not only a house, but the identity that has grown within its walls.
Rather than surrendering to circumstances, she quietly chooses her own path.
Carmen Maura Commands Every Frame
At the heart of Calle Malaga is a magnificent performance by Carmen Maura, one of Spain’s most celebrated actresses.
Known internationally for her collaborations with Pedro Almodóvar, Maura delivers one of the most heartfelt performances of her career. She portrays Maria Angeles with warmth, wit, vulnerability, and remarkable emotional honesty.
Her character is stubborn without becoming unlikeable, independent without losing tenderness, and humorous even during moments of uncertainty.
Every smile, glance, and gesture carries decades of lived experience, making Maria Angeles feel authentic rather than symbolic.
It is the kind of performance that reminds audiences why Maura remains one of European cinema’s finest performers.
Maryam Touzani’s Quiet Confidence
Touzani once again demonstrates her remarkable ability to transform intimate stories into emotionally resonant cinema.
Instead of relying on dramatic confrontations or exaggerated sentimentality, she allows emotions to emerge naturally through ordinary conversations, everyday routines, and small acts of resistance.
Her direction remains understated throughout.
The film never rushes.
Instead, it invites audiences to slow down alongside its protagonist and appreciate the beauty hidden within ordinary moments.
This patient storytelling becomes one of the film’s greatest strengths.
Maryam Touzani – Carmen Maura is María Ángeles and Marta Etura is Clara in Calle Malaga (2025 Venice Film Festival)
Tangier Becomes a Character
Beyond its central performances, Calle Malaga serves as a love letter to Tangier.
The city’s historic streets, colorful markets, cafés, balconies, and Mediterranean light provide far more than a picturesque backdrop.
They become an extension of Maria Angeles herself.
Touzani captures Tangier as a place where cultures meet naturally, reflecting decades of shared Moroccan and Spanish history while emphasizing the city’s unique cosmopolitan identity.
The cinematography embraces warm natural light, rich textures, and intimate spaces that reinforce the film’s themes of memory and belonging.
Family, Independence and Growing Older
While Calle Malaga addresses aging, it avoids many familiar clichés associated with stories about older protagonists.
Maria Angeles is not portrayed as helpless or defeated.
Instead, she remains curious, resourceful, and determined to shape her own future despite the decisions others attempt to make on her behalf.
The film also examines the complicated relationship between parents and adult children.
Clara’s choices emerge from financial pressure and practical concerns rather than cruelty, creating a nuanced family conflict where both generations believe they are acting responsibly.
This emotional complexity prevents the story from slipping into simplistic sentiment.
Humor Meets Heart
Although the subject matter touches upon loneliness, loss, and uncertainty, Calle Malaga consistently balances drama with warmth and humor.
Unexpected friendships, neighborhood solidarity, and moments of playful rebellion provide welcome lightness without diminishing the emotional stakes.
This tonal balance makes the film especially accessible, allowing audiences to connect with its characters through joy as much as through sadness.
Rather than dwelling on decline, Touzani celebrates resilience.
A Film About Choosing Your Own Life
Ultimately, Calle Malaga asks a universal question:
Who has the right to decide how we live our lives?
Through Maria Angeles’ determination to remain connected to her community, her memories, and her independence, the film argues that dignity is inseparable from personal choice.
Home is presented not merely as a physical place, but as a collection of relationships, habits, memories, and identity.
That message resonates far beyond Morocco or Spain.
Venice Reception and Awards Prospects
Following its festival premiere, Calle Malaga quickly established itself as one of the audience favorites of Venice, earning enthusiastic reactions for its emotional sincerity and Carmen Maura’s captivating performance.
As Morocco’s official submission for the Academy Awards, the film is expected to attract considerable international attention during the awards season.
Its universal themes, accessible storytelling, and celebrated lead performance position it as a strong ambassador for contemporary Moroccan cinema.
TheWorldScreen
With Calle Malaga, Maryam Touzani delivers another deeply human story that finds extraordinary meaning in ordinary lives.
Anchored by a luminous Carmen Maura, the film celebrates aging not as an ending, but as another chapter filled with courage, humor, friendship, and self-determination.
It is a gentle yet emotionally rewarding drama that reminds us that home is far more than bricks and walls—it is where our memories, our identity, and our sense of belonging continue to live.
TheWorldScreen Rating
★★★★½ (4.5/5)
Film Information
Title: Calle Malaga
Director: Maryam Touzani
Screenplay: Maryam Touzani & Nabil Ayouch
Cast: Carmen Maura, Marta Etura, Ahmed Boulane, María Alfonsa Rosso, Miguel Garcés
Running Time: 116 minutes
Languages: Spanish, Arabic
Festival: Venice International Film Festival 2025 (Spotlight), Toronto International Film Festival 2025
Country: Morocco
Sales: Films Boutique
