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Starring
Chiara Mastroianni and
Catherine Deneuve
Directed by
Marjane Satrapi
and
Vincent Paronnaud
Neil's Grade:
B+Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material including violent images, sexual references, language and brief drug content
a review by Neil Carnahan
The Rundown
Nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature for 2007, Persepolis is the story of young Marjane growing up in Iran. The film begins in the late 1970s, right when the Islamic Revolution begins, takes us through the invasion of Iraq, and up to the early 1990s.
Marjane is instinctively against Islamic rule because she sees what it does to her family; several of her family members are imprisoned and some killed. She wears the veil but secretly listens to punk and rock and roll music she gets from bootleggers on the street. As she grows older, she moves to Europe to escape and begins to live a different way, but never can escape her roots.
The Good News
The film is mostly in black and white, as much of the film is flashback, and the animation does a great job of telling the story. It tells the story is a much different way than a live action film could. Its artistic and sometimes abstract interpretations of the scenes are extremely interesting to look at rather than just literal depiction of what’s going on.
This is an arthouse film, so some things might not appeal to everyone. For example, it’s a French film, so it has English subtitles. Also, it’s slow-paced, but not boring. I mention this not to drive you away from seeing this film, but I feel you should be informed. It’s definitely an alternative for someone sick of the usual Hollywood fare. Through Marjane’s point of view, you get a very realistic idea of what living inside a country run by extreme Islamic militants is like and what it’s like to leave.
The Bottom Line
It’s artsy, it’s foreign and it’s animated. If you are in the mood for such a film, and I hope you are, then I wouldn’t hesitate to see this one. And I’d hurry too, as it is in very limited release.
To see the trailer and clips from the film, visit the film’s web site.
-- Neil Carnahan, neil @ movie-popcorn.com