Carmen Maura does not save this tourism campaign in Tangier

Don’t look for the movie Maryam Touzani (Tánger, 1980) a faithful approach to the clairvoyance of the dark city from these strategies of documentary film, which are usually primary in social and judgmental film.. Calle Málaga es, más bien, a dark reaction to romantic comedies that European cinema usually takes place in some picturesque rural enclave that is idealized in the light of a tourism promotion campaign.

The book, written by Touzani and also directed by Nabil Ayouch, carries colors against only one foreign character, Clara (Marta Etura), who joins Tangier to drop a bombshell on her eight-year-old mother: longing for an extramarital divorce and the difficulties of supporting her two children, she decides sell family housewhere Mari Ángeles has lived for 40 years. And I did it without consulting my mother so that she would consider it an absolute delicacy.

A descendant of Spanish emigrants who moved to Tangier during the 30 years it became France, Mari Ángeles does not want to leave the place that is now her homeland. For this reason, they will prefer to stay in an older residence before returning to the peninsula, as many of them are elderly people. However, the semi-prison regime is not for this woman to be in physical and intellectual shape and she will soon leave the institution due to return to your home the right way and embrace a picaresque livelihood.

It is from here that the film finally shines, its 115 minutes of footage resulting in all the exaggerated lights lightness that feels good among the first companions in which the film cannot decide between comedy and drama. And it is in the heart that begins with Mari Angela in the second-hand bookshop to the life of Ahmed Boulan that the heart of the film lies, so that desire is formed based on the idea of ​​​​the plot.

If the film, through its narrative and tonal dispersion, can sustain interest—for a long time—it is thanks to the work of a thousand years Carmen Maura. The actress has made a forceful return to acting in real-life stories that showcase the comedy of terror Old local (Martín Mauregui, 2025) where he plays a woman who is married to his poor girl and now this film where the camera won’t stay alone for a moment.

Maura, in full form, derrocha light, dignity, sensuality and comedy, and even takes center stage on a completely nude primer. To recover, she goes to a monastery, where she confesses to her friend Monje that she had an orgasm. A priceless Almodovarian moment in which nostalgia hits us.