Film Forum

From the director and screenwriters of THE BLUE CAFTAN (a 2023 FF premiere): In a Spanish-speaking enclave of Tangier, widowed Maria—Almodóvar leading lady Carmen Maura (WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN)—loves her life on Calle Malaga, with her friendly neighbors, grocers, and café owners who know her routines, and a large flat filled with treasured belongings. But when her daughter Clara, the legal owner of the flat who is facing divorce and financial crisis back in Spain, insists on selling it—Maria is relegated to either live-in grandma status or a retirement home. Maria’s spunky (and wickedly humorous) obstinance and Clara’s mid-life desperation are both affecting, revealing as much of Maria’s vibrancy as her hardened entitlement and maternal shortcomings. A universal tragicomedy, offering compassion for today's aging parents and their adult children.  

Presented with support from The Robert E. Appel Fund for Spanish and Portuguese Language Films

2025     116 MIN.     MOROCCO / FRANCE / SPAIN / GERMANY / BELGIUM
STRAND RELEASING     IN SPANISH AND ARABIC WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Reviews

“Touzani's gentle, toasty-warm later-life drama is an ode to the physical spaces that sustain us... also an ode... to the indefatigable screen presence of Carmen Maura. [CALLE MALAGA] is the most prominent and devoted leading showcase Maura has had in years, and one she carries with her invaluable brand of internally illuminated, can’t-be-taught charisma.”
– Guy Lodge, Variety

“Crowd-pleasing... A lovely ode to growing old but not giving in to age, to living life as it is meant to be lived—on your own terms. Maura is as good as it gets...”
– Pete Hammond, Deadline

“Magnificent... Touzani has created a space in CALLE MALAGA that you’ll want to stay in forever yourself.”
– Stephen Saito, The Moveable Fest

“[Maura is] in magnificent form... For those of us who have loved Carmen Maura since the first of her seven features with Pedro Almodóvar 45 years ago, watching her expressive face is its own wondrous reward... The movie is a sweet star showcase that belongs unequivocally to the incandescent Maura, whose earthy naturalness, sly humor, and tenacious spirit feed a direct link back to her Almodóvarian glory days.”
– David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

“Touzani gives Maura a wonderful part to embody. Maria is a wonderfully textured character, at turns flinty and cold and vivacious and funny, and Maura is adept at embodying all sides to this woman.”
– Wilson Chapman, IndieWire