Directed and co-written by Maryam Touzani, Calle Málaga stars Spanish actress Carmen Maura, who is best known internationally for her appearances in seven films of Pedro Almodóvar, including Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Volver.
María Ángeles Muñoz (Maura) is a 79-year-old widow who lives in a flat on Calle Málaga in Tangiers. But for her, Calle Málaga isn’t just a street, it’s a community. She knows everyone, and everyone knows and cares for her.
Her daughter, Clara (Marta Etura), is a recently divorced nurse who now lives in Madrid with her two children. When Clara comes to Tangiers to visit, María Ángeles is delighted…until she discovers the reason for her visit. Ownership of the flat is in Clara’s name. In need of money, she is selling the flat. María Ángeles has lived there for forty years. She loves her possessions, her plants and everything about the place. Clara doesn’t care. She has already contacted a real estate agent. She sells all of the furniture and María Ángeles’ knick-knacks to an elderly local antiques dealer named Abslam (Ahmed Boulane).
Clara gives her mother two choices: move in with her and the grandchildren in Madrid or move into an assisted-living home in Tangier. María Ángeles chooses the latter, but sneaks out and moves back into her now empty flat. Piece by piece she begins buying back her furniture. Abslam, who initially has been grumpy and hostile, is impressed by María Ángeles’ perseverance and takes a strong liking to her. He even tracks down María Ángeles’ beloved record player, and they share a road trip to buy it back. In fact, despite their age, they develop a sexual relationship.
María Ángeles creates a source of income. She learns that her young neighbors, who often help her, watch football (soccer) matches on a bootleg system at a local bar that is not allowed to sell alcohol. With their help, she arranges for the locals to watch at her home, where she serves beer and home-cooked food. Eventually, the police catch up with her. She suggests that they come inside and watch the match. They do, and they have a great time. They delay reporting her.
For comic relief, there is María Ángeles’ relationship with her childhood friend, Josefa (María Alfonsa Rosso), who is now an elderly nun who has taken a vow of silence. When María Ángeles blurts out the details of her sexual relations with Abslam, Josefa has a hard time expressing her shock and disapproval while maintaining her vow of silence.
Maryam Touzani has dedicated Calle Málaga to the memory of her grandmother, who fled the dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain and moved to Tangiers in the 1930s.
This is the third time one of Touzani’s films has been chosen to represent Morocco at the Academy Awards. The others were Adam (2019) and The Blue Caftan (2022). Touzani’s husband, Nabil Ayouch, who co-wrote the screenplay for Calle Málaga, has also represented Morocco as a director at the Academy Awards six times, including for the superb Horses of God (2013).
