Persepolis
Written and Directed
by Marjane Satrapi
and Vincent Paronnaud

Since Will Eisner came up with the term “Graphic novel” a quarter of a century ago, the art of the comic book has undergone a transformation. Square-back comics have become a form of personal expression, and some amazing works have come out, receiving far more acceptance in the US than ever before, but for the rest of the world, this is old hat, especially in France, where “Band Desunee” albums have been a major part of adult literature for decades. It is in the French tradition where Marjane Satrapi's graphic memoir of her childhood and adolescence in Iran belongs.

 

The two volumes of “Perseoplis” became best sellers on both sides of the Atlantic, and Satrapi became a literary heroine of sorts, bringing the truth of what it was like to live in Iran during the Revolution there and after, and since it was originally comics, the idea that it would be translated to the screen as an animated cartoon made quite a bit of sense. Apparently, the production was entirely hand drawn, including the inking and painting of cels, something that might not be done again on such a scale in the age of computers. It works quite well.

We first meet Marjane(Chiara Mastrtoianni) as an adult, where she's hanging out at the Paris airport considering about whether or not to go home to Iran. At this point the film is in color, but when it turns to flashback, and the child Marjane (Gabrielle Lopes) is hanging out with her friends in Teheran at the end of the Shah's regime, the film becomes the black and white of the comic book.

 

She lives with her paraents (Catherine Deneuve and Simon Abkarian) and Grandmother (Danielle Darrieux), and the first thing to happen after her playing with her friends is the release of her Uncle Anouche(Francois Jerosme), from prison. He was a communist and very much opposed the regime. There's a brief history lesson of sorts, followed by how the family was affected by the revolution.

Then everything, as we all know, goes sour, the Ayatollas take over, and Marjane makes little acts of rebellion, as the regime gets more and more repressive. But life isn't as horrible as it might be, that is until the war with Iraq starts.

She's able to get out, and spends a number of years in Vienna, before going back to Iran, where things are worse than ever, and after some more growing up and a bad marriage winds up in France, where we once again are in color.

With the original artist and writer in charge of the translation of the book to the film, the original vision shines through every frame, and with the help Satrapi gets from Vincent Paronnaud and his team of animators, her simple style gains a dimension without losing it's punch. This is a family film in the true sense of the word, even with some of the more adult scenes later on. Worth the bucks indeed.

 


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