Coming of age in a time of war

Graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi brings Persepolis to life on the big screen

By Alexa Weibel
Published: January 26th, 2008 | 11:48am

Graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi shares her tale of growing up in — and out of — tumultuous Iran during the Islamic Revolution and the start of the Iran-Iraq war in Persepolis' tender tale of identity. Delicately juggling charming candor — and minimal self-indulgence — with serious subject matter, co-directors Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi deliver a feel-good comedy in the vein of Amelie in this autobiographical delight.

Audiences are tickled by the young, feisty Marjane, lover of Bruce Lee and ketchup, with humble aspirations of growing up and shaving her legs. Blessed with a sheltered childhood and loving family, Marjane eventually witnesses riots in the streets below from the luxury of her pampered Tehran apartment. "Down with the Shah!" she chants gleefully. The roots of the revolution are explained to her as the primary historical figures bounce across the screen in paper-doll depictions — humor ever intact, Marjane amuses audiences with her wide-eyed elation upon the discovery of her family's political roots in the matter, her grandfather's communistic beliefs garnering particular delight. Alas, the revolution is squelched, war begins, and daily life becomes ruled by a "law of blood."

Tehran 1982, a period of scarcity, denigration of women, and heightened repression, finds Marjane refusing to be spoon-fed the ever-more-stringent ideals forced upon her classmates and the nation in general. She embraces everyday rebellion, however petty, buying bootleg Iron Maiden cassettes and proudly sporting a "Punk is not dead" jacket. Her parents perceive her as the astute time bomb she is, and send her to school in Vienna, Austria.

Abroad, she's forced to forge her own identity as an ex-patriot of a nation in shambles. Confounded by puberty — a period she dryly dubs a "time of constantly renewed ugliness" — Marjane strikes up a few romances, to varying degrees of success (her first, "a pathetic setback" involving the man of interest coming out the next morning), and discovers a subculture before finally being drawn home to her roots, the "cemetery" of Tehran.

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, Persepolis excites the bewilderment of a child during story time — the impact isn't lessened by the simple lines and sparing detail of its talented graphic novelist. The image of a young boy shot during the uprising, then buoyed by the crowd, is no less touching in animated form; in fact the wartime imagery is all the more jarring for its cartoon renderings.

Those who groan at the phrase "coming of age" will be mercifully spared the genre's eponymous effusive moments, and can't help but be touched by the sincerity and enormously likable personality of protagonist Marjane and her family members — particularly Catherine Deneuve as the voice of her charming, dirty-mouthed grandmother. The diary-esque tone relies not upon the provocation of pity but simple teenage angst of a bright mind seeking to make her mark on the world — and in wartime, then and now, that's never a bad thing.

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christytrotter (over 4 years)
This is an AMAAAAAZING movie. I read one of the books (the second) and wasn't disappointed by the book-to-film translation. Both are strong, and the film is a beautiful and amazing work of art in its own right.