Persepolis
Based on the autobiographical graphic novel of the same name by Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis chronicles how a little Iranian girl has come to live in France today. It’s as simple and as complex as that – and the animation follows suit. Almost entirely in black and white, Persepolis finds its visual complexity in layers, textures, and vivid imagery. Images of horror or impact are dealt with in a poetic fashion, but not a whitewashed one. It puts me to mind of the excellent (but never animated) Maus (Art Spiegelman), with its simple depictions of vast horrors, but Persepolis handles its dark subject matter with a more graceful flourish. The animation balances between partially traditional line (the drawing of a face moving and talking) and cut out (a stiff drawing of a wave is moved up and down to show its surges). The black and white has shading of greys, a chalky, watercolory feel, and this adds warmth to what could otherwise be alarmingly stark (and unwittingly thematic?). The effect is deceptively simplistic and simply beautiful.
Why go on about the visuals? They serve the story and transform what is in essence a memoir of 14 years (1978-1992, apparently age 8-9 to 22-23) of a single person’s life into a vivid illustration of the struggles of the Iranian people during that time. Even that which I just wrote sounds more PBS/NPR than I mean to sound. Marjane begins her tale during the “untenable” reign of the secular dictator The Shah, and ends it fleeing into exile in the West, escaping the theocratic hellhole that the Ayatollah’s Iran was devolving into. It’s lovely to see her childish perspective with an adult interpretation and eyes, but also it’s lovely to see how she does not denigrate her youthful, immature feelings. She had good and bad experiences in the east and in the west, but she had great role models and a voice.
Marjane as a character grows up in this tale, from a smart kid to a smarter adult, but we never feel that the story is self-congratulatory in any way, or even egocentric. She is merely the conduit to express experiences of two worlds close in time zones but alien in ideologies. Her narration (voiced by Chiara Mastroianni) is dispassionate but personal. The real Marjane co-directed and co-wrote the screenplay based on her graphic novel with Vincent Parronaud, both with very little filmic experience, but with marvelous taste and style. I hope this is not the last we see of such unique work.
The artwork tells us more than her (French) narration can, in symbols and frozen images as well as moving characters and dark-light emphases. Persepolis is very different and bold, beautiful and moving. I am, now, truly torn in my pick for best animated feature. Meanwhile, please try and see it while it’s still playing on the big screen. It’s a wonderful, fanciful, and terrible (in its original sense) work of art.
MPAA Rating PG-13
Release date 6/27/07 (France)
Time in minutes 95
Director Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi
Studio Sony Pictures Classics
