A young Moroccan Italian girl navigates life from age nine through fourteen in Californie, the fictional coming-of-age feature debut from documentary filmmaker partners Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman.
At age nine, Jamila (Khadija Jaafari) is a confident young girl with strong ambitions to become a boxing champion. She looks to an older female boxing athlete in awe—an athlete by the name of Irma Testa, who became Italy’s first female boxer to qualify for the Olympics. Cassigoli and Kauffman came across Jaafari while they were filming their documentary Butterfly, which followed Testa’s inspiring journey. The filmmakers were struck by Jaafari’s intensity and determination to follow in Testa’s footsteps. They decided to build Californie around Jaafari, incorporating aspects of her life but ultimately crafting their own narrative as they filmed sections of the film over five years during Jamila’s (and Jaafari’s) formative years.
Californie follows Jamila through the highs and lows of adolescence as she tries to find her place in society amidst various roadblocks. As an immigrant with a largely absent father and a mother working around the clock to support her children, Jamila already faces more challenges than many kids her age. As her childhood boxing ambitions crumble in a heartbreaking scene, she begins lashing out at kids in school and loses interest in academics. At home, we largely see her only interact with her older sister, who is by turns supportive and confrontational as she deals with her own coming-of-age challenges. With a lack of a social support system in place, Jamila latches onto the idea of saving up to purchase a one-way ticket back to Morocco. She drops out of school and takes on odd jobs and errands, including working as a hair stylist’s apprentice.
Jamila’s dreams are constantly shifting, and we are reminded by how much can change in a year when, by age thirteen, Jamila is actively desperate not to return to Morocco. She has a steady job working at a hair salon (the titular “Californie”) for Jasmine (Maria Amato), a woman who is simultaneously supportive and overbearing; it’s evident that she’s helped Jamila adjust and settle into herself in many ways, providing her with stability, a solid career path, and a social support network—at the same time, Jasmine puts too much pressure on Jamila to work and discourages her from pursuing education. Jamila’s independence often fools us into forgetting how young she really is. By the film’s end, Jamila seems much older than her fourteen years, having found some inner peace and regained the confidence of her younger self.
Cassigoli and Kauffman have previously made two award-winning documentaries together, The Things We Keep (2017) and Butterfly (2018). While Californie is their first fictional feature, they draw on their documentary experience to present the film in a vérité style, leaning on Italian neorealism to present a story that encompasses every day life and the real passage of time. There are no striking plot twists or grandiose narrative events; instead, the film focuses on more gradual developments, weaving together sequences in a natural progression. The film’s style and in particular the strength of Jaafari’s performance make the film quite compelling. The young actor empathetically takes us through Jamila’s hopes, frustrations, and journey of self-discovery. In addition, watching Jaafari portray Jamila throughout the years, without switching actors, lends a realism that reminds us of our own coming-of-age histories.
The title of the film is an interesting creative choice. Although we don’t learn the name of the hair salon (Californie) until much later in the film, the salon itself is a formative place for Jamila and its name contains deeper meaning. It also adds gentle levity to the film, as the hair salon was so named due to human error and miscommunication—it was supposed to be called “California,” not “Californie.” Jamila is quick to point out the sign’s similarity to the proverb, “where is there is a crack, there is also light.” This also serves as a reference to herself and society in general; as we watch a flawed and sometimes troubled girl grow up onscreen, we see the plethora of good and hope inside her.
Californie premiered at this year’s Venice Days, an independent division of the Venice Film Festival.
Score: B+