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Persepolis (film)
Encyclopedia
Persepolis is a 2007 French animated film
based on Marjane Satrapi
's autobiographical
graphic novel
of the same name. The film was written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud
. The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution
. The story ends with Marjane as a 24-year-old expatriate. The title is a reference to the historic city of Persepolis
.
The film won the Jury Prize
at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
and was released in France
and Belgium
on June 27. In her acceptance speech, Satrapi said "Although this film is universal, I wish to dedicate the prize to all Iranians." The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
, but lost to Ratatouille
.
The film was released in the United States on December 25, 2007 and in the United Kingdom on 24 April 2008.
(Chiara Mastroianni
) is unable to board a plane to Iran, for reasons that are not clearly explained. Sitting down to smoke a cigarette, she remembers her life as a girl in 1978 at the age of 9. As a child, Marji lived in Tehran
with dreams of being a prophet
and an emulator of Bruce Lee
. Juxtaposing her childhood ambitions is the general uprising against the US-backed Shah of Iran
, with her middle-class family participating in rallies and protests with high hopes for a better society. Meanwhile, Marji attempts to identify with her generation's point of view, whether it is threatening the child of an unpopular government official, or competing for the greater childish prestige of having a relative who has been a political prisoner the longest time. Marji and a group of friends attempt to attack a young boy whose father, a member of SAVAK
, killed Communists
for fun, but they are stopped by her mother (Catherine Deneuve
). That night, God appears before her to teach her about forgiveness, and about how she should not take justice into her own hands. One day Marji's Uncle Anoush arrives to have dinner with the family and catch up with them after recently being released from prison. Anoush tells Marji about his life on the run from the government for rebelling with his Communist ideology, and that he was imprisoned by Iranian authorities when he attempted to return to Iran from the Soviet Union
. He also speaks of his nine years spent in prison to subtly warn Marji of the consequences of standing up for innocent people, but that she should always remember her family and remain true to herself.
During this time all political enemies ceased fighting and elections for a new leading power commenced. However, things do not get any better for the family, when they are profoundly upset when Islamic Fundamentalists win the elections with 99.99% of the vote and force Iranian society into its own kind of repressive state. The hands of the law, now controlled by Khomeini, make laws that make things worse for the Iranian people, such as forcing women to dress modestly (including wearing the hijab
) to rearresting and executing Anouche for his political beliefs. Profoundly disillusioned, Marji rejects her prophetic aspirations before God and tries with her family to fit into the reality of the intolerant regime. To make things worse, the Iran-Iraq war
breaks out and Marji sees for herself the horrors of death and destruction; the Iranian government begins implementing blatant laws that create ridiculous injustices. Marji witnesses her father threatened by teenage government officials wielding machine-guns and watches her critically ill uncle die because an unqualified government-appointed hospital administrator refuses to let him go abroad for medical treatment. The family tries to find some solace in secret parties where they can enjoy simple pleasures the government has outlawed, such as alcohol
. As she grows up, Marji begins a life of over-confidence, where she refuses to stay out of trouble, where she secretly buys Western heavy metal music
, notably Iron Maiden
, on the black market, wears unorthodox clothing such as a denim
jacket, and even celebrating punk rock
and other Western music sensations like Michael Jackson
, or openly rebutting a teacher's lies about the abuses of the government.
Fearing her arrest for her outspokenness, Marji's parents make the difficult decision to send her to a French Lycée in Vienna, Austria in 1983, where she could be safe and free to express herself. She lives with Catholic nuns when she arrives and soon finds herself on edge with the discriminatory and judgmental nuns. Marji does make new friends, but ultimately she feels intolerably isolated in a foreign land surrounded by annoyingly superficial people who take their freedoms for granted. As the years pass on, Marji is thrown out of her temporary shelter for verbally abusing a nun, and is driven out into the streets. Marji continues to go from house to house, until ending up in a house of Frau Dr. Schloss, a retired philosophy teacher. One night, Her grandmother's voice about staying true to herself resonates within her when she leaves a party after lying about her nationality; telling an acquaintance that she was French. Her shame culminates in a passionate love affair with Markus, a debonair native, which traumatically ends on her eighteenth birthday when she discovers him cheating on her. Also, her previous lover reveals himself to be homosexual after a bad sexual experience with Marji. Marjane falls apart over her breakup, and when she is accused of stealing Frau Dr. Schloss's brooch, Marji gets fed up and angrily leaves. She spends the day on a park bench, and reflects upon how cruel Markus was to her. She soon discovers that she has nowhere to go and ends up living on the street for a few months. Eventually, she becomes so ill that she contracts bronchitis, and almost ends up dying.
Eventually, Marji recovers in a Vienna
Hospital
, and returns to Iran in 1987, with her family's permission and hopes that the conclusion of the war would mean an improved life there. After a while of spending her time in front of television for days on end, doing nothing to advance her life, Marji falls into a clinical depression over the state of affairs in Iran and the misery that has nearly ruined her family. It is not clearly explained in the movie, but she attempts suicide by overdosing on her medication. She gets into bed and closes her eyes before she enters a dream where God and the spirit of Karl Marx
appear before her to remind her of what is important and encourage her to go on with living. She bounces back with renewed determination and begins enjoying life again: she attends university classes, goes to parties, and even enters a relationship with a fellow student, who is later revealed to be Reza. With the recent death of Khomeini, Marji notices that things have gradually gone worse; she discovers that Iranian society is more tyrannized than ever with numerous atrocities occurring. With Ali Khamenei
now controlling the society, mass executions for political beliefs and petty religious absurdities and hypocrisies have become common in everyday life (she and her boyfriend are caught holding hands and their parents forced to pay a fine), much to Marjane's dismay. While this makes living as both a student and a woman intolerable, Marji manages to hold on to her rebellious attitude. However, she starts resorting to personal survival tactics to protect herself, such as falsely accusing a man of making a pass at her to avoid being arrested for wearing make up and marrying her boyfriend to avoid scrutiny by the religious police. Her grandmother, disappointed by Marji's behaviour, berates Marji, and tells her that both her grandfather and her uncle died supporting freedom and innocent people, and that she never forsake them or her family by succumbing to the repressive environment of Iran. Marji, realizing her mistake, does what she can to fix it, and her grandmother is pleased upon hearing that Marjane openly confronted the blatant sexist double standard
in her university's forum on public morality
.
By 1994, her marriage is falling apart and things come to an end when the police raid a party, resulting in a friend being killed trying to escape. After these incidents and her divorce, the family decides that Marji leave the country again, and this time permanently, to avoid her being targeted by the authorities as a political dissident. Marji's mother then forbids Marji from coming back, to which Marji reluctantly agrees. Her grandmother was never to be seen again by Marji, and she dies soon after her departure. Marji is shown collecting her luggage and getting into a taxi. As the taxi pulls away from the south terminal of Paris-Orly Airport, the narrative cuts back to the present day. When the driver asks Marji where she is from, she replies "Iran
", showing that she's kept the promise she made to Anoush and her grandmother years ago that she would remember where she came from and that she would always stay true to herself. The screen fades to black as she recalls her final memory of her grandmother telling her how she placed jasmine
in her brassiere to allow her to smell lovely every day, and the credits then follow.
style of the original graphic novels. Marjane explained in a bonus feature on the DVD that this was so the place and the characters wouldn't look like foreigners in a foreign country but simply people in a country to show how easily a country can become like Iran. The present-day scenes are shown in color, while sections of the historic narrative resemble a shadow theater
show. To help with the translation of the comic to animation, art director and executive producer Marc Jousset came up with the design. The animation is credited to the Perseprod studio and was created by two specialized studios: Je Suis Bien Content and Pumpkin 3D
.
reported that 97% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 145 reviews. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 90 out of 100, based on 31 reviews.
Time
magazine's Richard Corliss
named the film one of the Top 10 Movies of 2007, ranking it at #6. Corliss praised the film, calling it “a coming-of-age tale, that manages to be both harrowing and exuberant.”
It has been ranked #58 in Empire magazine's
"The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010.
, the government-connected organisation Iran Farabi Foundation sent a letter to the French embassy in Tehran
stating, "This year the Cannes Film Festival, in an unconventional and unsuitable act, has chosen a movie about Iran that has presented an unrealistic face of the achievements and results of the glorious Islamic Revolution in some of its parts"
Despite such objections, the Iranian cultural authorities relented in February 2008 and allowed limited screenings of the film in Tehran, albeit with six scenes censored due to sexual content.
. Festival director Chattan Kunjara na Ayudhya stated, "I was invited by the Iranian embassy to discuss the matter and we both came to mutual agreement that it would be beneficial to both countries if the film was not shown" and "It is a good movie in artistic terms, but we have to consider other issues that might arise here."
, Washington, in the United States objected to adult content in the movie and graphic novel, and lobbied to discontinue it as part of the curriculum. The Curriculum Materials Adoption Committee felt that "other educational goals — such as that children should not be sheltered from what the board and staff called 'disturbing' themes and content — outweighed the crudeness and parental prerogative."
. A day later a demonstration formed and marched on the station. The main Islamic party in Tunisia, Ennahda
, condemned the demonstration.
65th Golden Globe Awards
César Awards
2007 Cannes Film Festival
2007 European Film Awards
2007 London Film Festival
2007 Cinemanila International Film Festival
2007 São Paulo International Film Festival
2007 Vancouver International Film Festival
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
based on Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novelist, illustrator, animated film director, and children's book author...
's autobiographical
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
of the same name. The film was written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud
Vincent Paronnaud
Pascal Stadler , a.k.a. Winshluss, is a French comics artist and filmmaker. He is best known for cowriting and codirecting with Marjane Satrapi the highly acclaimed animated film Persepolis , for which they received numerous awards including the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival as well...
. The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
. The story ends with Marjane as a 24-year-old expatriate. The title is a reference to the historic city of Persepolis
Persepolis
Perspolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire . Persepolis is situated northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province of modern Iran. In contemporary Persian, the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid...
.
The film won the Jury Prize
Jury Prize (Cannes Film Festival)
The Jury Prize is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It is considered the third most prestigious prize at the film festival, after the Palme d'Or and the Grand Prix....
at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
and was released in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
on June 27. In her acceptance speech, Satrapi said "Although this film is universal, I wish to dedicate the prize to all Iranians." The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is one of the annual awards given by the Los Angeles-based professional organization, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, but lost to Ratatouille
Ratatouille (film)
Ratatouille is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the eighth film produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005...
.
The film was released in the United States on December 25, 2007 and in the United Kingdom on 24 April 2008.
Plot
The film begins at Paris-Orly Airport where Marjane SatrapiMarjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novelist, illustrator, animated film director, and children's book author...
(Chiara Mastroianni
Chiara Mastroianni
Chiara Charlotte Mastroianni is a French actress and singer.-Biography:Mastroianni was born in Paris, the daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. Her elder half-brother is Christian Vadim; her elder half-sister is Barbara Mastroianni.She had relationships with the actors Benicio...
) is unable to board a plane to Iran, for reasons that are not clearly explained. Sitting down to smoke a cigarette, she remembers her life as a girl in 1978 at the age of 9. As a child, Marji lived in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
with dreams of being a prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
and an emulator of Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...
. Juxtaposing her childhood ambitions is the general uprising against the US-backed Shah of Iran
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
, with her middle-class family participating in rallies and protests with high hopes for a better society. Meanwhile, Marji attempts to identify with her generation's point of view, whether it is threatening the child of an unpopular government official, or competing for the greater childish prestige of having a relative who has been a political prisoner the longest time. Marji and a group of friends attempt to attack a young boy whose father, a member of SAVAK
SAVAK
SAVAK was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service established by Iran's Mohammad Reza Shah on the recommendation of the British Government and with the help of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency SAVAK (Persian: ساواک, short for سازمان اطلاعات و امنیت کشور...
, killed Communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
for fun, but they are stopped by her mother (Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
). That night, God appears before her to teach her about forgiveness, and about how she should not take justice into her own hands. One day Marji's Uncle Anoush arrives to have dinner with the family and catch up with them after recently being released from prison. Anoush tells Marji about his life on the run from the government for rebelling with his Communist ideology, and that he was imprisoned by Iranian authorities when he attempted to return to Iran from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. He also speaks of his nine years spent in prison to subtly warn Marji of the consequences of standing up for innocent people, but that she should always remember her family and remain true to herself.
During this time all political enemies ceased fighting and elections for a new leading power commenced. However, things do not get any better for the family, when they are profoundly upset when Islamic Fundamentalists win the elections with 99.99% of the vote and force Iranian society into its own kind of repressive state. The hands of the law, now controlled by Khomeini, make laws that make things worse for the Iranian people, such as forcing women to dress modestly (including wearing the hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
) to rearresting and executing Anouche for his political beliefs. Profoundly disillusioned, Marji rejects her prophetic aspirations before God and tries with her family to fit into the reality of the intolerant regime. To make things worse, the Iran-Iraq war
Iran-Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the longest conventional war of the twentieth century...
breaks out and Marji sees for herself the horrors of death and destruction; the Iranian government begins implementing blatant laws that create ridiculous injustices. Marji witnesses her father threatened by teenage government officials wielding machine-guns and watches her critically ill uncle die because an unqualified government-appointed hospital administrator refuses to let him go abroad for medical treatment. The family tries to find some solace in secret parties where they can enjoy simple pleasures the government has outlawed, such as alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
. As she grows up, Marji begins a life of over-confidence, where she refuses to stay out of trouble, where she secretly buys Western heavy metal music
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, notably Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
, on the black market, wears unorthodox clothing such as a denim
Denim
Denim is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This produces the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck. Denim has been in American usage since the late 18th century...
jacket, and even celebrating punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and other Western music sensations like Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
, or openly rebutting a teacher's lies about the abuses of the government.
Fearing her arrest for her outspokenness, Marji's parents make the difficult decision to send her to a French Lycée in Vienna, Austria in 1983, where she could be safe and free to express herself. She lives with Catholic nuns when she arrives and soon finds herself on edge with the discriminatory and judgmental nuns. Marji does make new friends, but ultimately she feels intolerably isolated in a foreign land surrounded by annoyingly superficial people who take their freedoms for granted. As the years pass on, Marji is thrown out of her temporary shelter for verbally abusing a nun, and is driven out into the streets. Marji continues to go from house to house, until ending up in a house of Frau Dr. Schloss, a retired philosophy teacher. One night, Her grandmother's voice about staying true to herself resonates within her when she leaves a party after lying about her nationality; telling an acquaintance that she was French. Her shame culminates in a passionate love affair with Markus, a debonair native, which traumatically ends on her eighteenth birthday when she discovers him cheating on her. Also, her previous lover reveals himself to be homosexual after a bad sexual experience with Marji. Marjane falls apart over her breakup, and when she is accused of stealing Frau Dr. Schloss's brooch, Marji gets fed up and angrily leaves. She spends the day on a park bench, and reflects upon how cruel Markus was to her. She soon discovers that she has nowhere to go and ends up living on the street for a few months. Eventually, she becomes so ill that she contracts bronchitis, and almost ends up dying.
Eventually, Marji recovers in a Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
Hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
, and returns to Iran in 1987, with her family's permission and hopes that the conclusion of the war would mean an improved life there. After a while of spending her time in front of television for days on end, doing nothing to advance her life, Marji falls into a clinical depression over the state of affairs in Iran and the misery that has nearly ruined her family. It is not clearly explained in the movie, but she attempts suicide by overdosing on her medication. She gets into bed and closes her eyes before she enters a dream where God and the spirit of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
appear before her to remind her of what is important and encourage her to go on with living. She bounces back with renewed determination and begins enjoying life again: she attends university classes, goes to parties, and even enters a relationship with a fellow student, who is later revealed to be Reza. With the recent death of Khomeini, Marji notices that things have gradually gone worse; she discovers that Iranian society is more tyrannized than ever with numerous atrocities occurring. With Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
now controlling the society, mass executions for political beliefs and petty religious absurdities and hypocrisies have become common in everyday life (she and her boyfriend are caught holding hands and their parents forced to pay a fine), much to Marjane's dismay. While this makes living as both a student and a woman intolerable, Marji manages to hold on to her rebellious attitude. However, she starts resorting to personal survival tactics to protect herself, such as falsely accusing a man of making a pass at her to avoid being arrested for wearing make up and marrying her boyfriend to avoid scrutiny by the religious police. Her grandmother, disappointed by Marji's behaviour, berates Marji, and tells her that both her grandfather and her uncle died supporting freedom and innocent people, and that she never forsake them or her family by succumbing to the repressive environment of Iran. Marji, realizing her mistake, does what she can to fix it, and her grandmother is pleased upon hearing that Marjane openly confronted the blatant sexist double standard
Double standard
A double standard is the unjust application of different sets of principles for similar situations. The concept implies that a single set of principles encompassing all situations is the desirable ideal. The term has been used in print since at least 1895...
in her university's forum on public morality
Public morality
Public morality refers to moral and ethical standards enforced in a society, by law or police work or social pressure, and applied to public life, to the content of the media, and to conduct in public places...
.
By 1994, her marriage is falling apart and things come to an end when the police raid a party, resulting in a friend being killed trying to escape. After these incidents and her divorce, the family decides that Marji leave the country again, and this time permanently, to avoid her being targeted by the authorities as a political dissident. Marji's mother then forbids Marji from coming back, to which Marji reluctantly agrees. Her grandmother was never to be seen again by Marji, and she dies soon after her departure. Marji is shown collecting her luggage and getting into a taxi. As the taxi pulls away from the south terminal of Paris-Orly Airport, the narrative cuts back to the present day. When the driver asks Marji where she is from, she replies "Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
", showing that she's kept the promise she made to Anoush and her grandmother years ago that she would remember where she came from and that she would always stay true to herself. The screen fades to black as she recalls her final memory of her grandmother telling her how she placed jasmine
Jasmine
Jasminum , commonly known as jasmines, is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family . It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World...
in her brassiere to allow her to smell lovely every day, and the credits then follow.
Cinematography
The film is presented in the black-and-whiteBlack-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
style of the original graphic novels. Marjane explained in a bonus feature on the DVD that this was so the place and the characters wouldn't look like foreigners in a foreign country but simply people in a country to show how easily a country can become like Iran. The present-day scenes are shown in color, while sections of the historic narrative resemble a shadow theater
Shadow play
Shadow play or shadow puppetry Shadow puppets have a long history in China, India, Turkey and Java, and as a popular form of entertainment for both children and adults in many countries around the world. A shadow puppet is a cut-out figure held between a source of light and a translucent screen...
show. To help with the translation of the comic to animation, art director and executive producer Marc Jousset came up with the design. The animation is credited to the Perseprod studio and was created by two specialized studios: Je Suis Bien Content and Pumpkin 3D
Pumpkin 3D
Pumpkin 3D is an animation studio based in France that specializes in Computer animation. Past work has included animation for the anime television series Oban Star-Racers and animated feature films, including Azur et Asmar and Persepolis ....
.
French version
- Chiara MastroianniChiara MastroianniChiara Charlotte Mastroianni is a French actress and singer.-Biography:Mastroianni was born in Paris, the daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. Her elder half-brother is Christian Vadim; her elder half-sister is Barbara Mastroianni.She had relationships with the actors Benicio...
as teenage and adult Marjane - Catherine DeneuveCatherine DeneuveCatherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
as Mother - Danielle DarrieuxDanielle DarrieuxDanielle Yvonne Marie Antoinette Darrieux is a French actress and singer, who has appeared in more than 110 films since 1931. She is one of France's great movie stars and her eight-decade career is among the longest in film history....
as Grandmother - Simon AbkarianSimon AbkarianSimon Abkarian is a French-Armenian actor.Born in Gonesse, Val d'Oise, of Armenian descent, Abkarian spent his childhood in Lebanon. He moved to Los Angeles, where he joined an Armenian theater company managed by Gerald Papazian. He returned to France in 1985, settling in Paris...
as Father - François Jerosme as Uncle Anouche
English version
- Gena RowlandsGena RowlandsGena Rowlands is an American actress of film, stage and television. The four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner is best known for her collaborations with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, in two of which, Gloria and A Woman Under the Influence, she gave Academy...
as Grandmother - Sean PennSean PennSean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
as Father - Iggy PopIggy PopIggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
as Uncle Anouche
Reception
Critical reception
The film was critically acclaimed. As of September 5, 2010, the review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 97% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 145 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 90 out of 100, based on 31 reviews.
Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine's Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss is a writer for Time magazine who focuses on movies, with the occasional article on music or sports. Corliss is the former editor-in-chief of Film Comment...
named the film one of the Top 10 Movies of 2007, ranking it at #6. Corliss praised the film, calling it “a coming-of-age tale, that manages to be both harrowing and exuberant.”
It has been ranked #58 in Empire magazine's
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
"The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010.
Iranian government reaction
The film has drawn complaints from the Iranian government. Even before its debut at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
, the government-connected organisation Iran Farabi Foundation sent a letter to the French embassy in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
stating, "This year the Cannes Film Festival, in an unconventional and unsuitable act, has chosen a movie about Iran that has presented an unrealistic face of the achievements and results of the glorious Islamic Revolution in some of its parts"
Despite such objections, the Iranian cultural authorities relented in February 2008 and allowed limited screenings of the film in Tehran, albeit with six scenes censored due to sexual content.
Thai government reaction
In June 2007, the film was dropped from the lineup of the Bangkok International Film FestivalBangkok International Film Festival
The Bangkok International Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in Bangkok, Thailand, since 2003. In addition to film screenings, seminars, gala events and the Golden Kinnaree Awards.-First years:...
. Festival director Chattan Kunjara na Ayudhya stated, "I was invited by the Iranian embassy to discuss the matter and we both came to mutual agreement that it would be beneficial to both countries if the film was not shown" and "It is a good movie in artistic terms, but we have to consider other issues that might arise here."
Lebanese government reaction
Persepolis was initially banned in Lebanon after some clerics found it to be "offensive to Iran and Islam." The ban was later revoked after an outcry in Lebanese intellectual and political circles.School controversy
A group of parents from the Northshore School DistrictNorthshore School District
Northshore School District is a public school district covering portions of both King County and Snohomish County, Washington. The district's service area covers the cities of Bothell , Woodinville,and Kenmore as well as portions of unincorporated King County....
, Washington, in the United States objected to adult content in the movie and graphic novel, and lobbied to discontinue it as part of the curriculum. The Curriculum Materials Adoption Committee felt that "other educational goals — such as that children should not be sheltered from what the board and staff called 'disturbing' themes and content — outweighed the crudeness and parental prerogative."
Islamist attack on TV station in Tunisia
On 7 October 2011, the film was shown on the Tunisian private television station NessmaNessma TV
Nessma TV is a commercial TV channel, that has a range covering Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria Libya and Mauritania. Mediaset owns 25% of it. All programs broadcast on this channel have subtitles in French or Maghrebi Arabic. It broadcasts such programs like Maghreb version of Who Wants to Be a...
. A day later a demonstration formed and marched on the station. The main Islamic party in Tunisia, Ennahda
Ennahda
EnNahda can stand for:*The Arab Renaissance in the 19th and 20th century, see Al-Nahda*The Tunisian political party, see Ennahda Movement*The Algerian political party, see Islamic Renaissance Movement...
, condemned the demonstration.
Top ten lists
The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.- 2nd - Stephen Hunter, The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
- 3rd - Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle
- 3rd - Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle
- 4th - Mike McStay , Socius Website
- 4th - Claudia Puig, USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
- 4th - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
- 4th - Mike Russell, The OregonianThe OregonianThe Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
- 4th - Stephanie Zacharek, SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
- 4th - Stephen Holden, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- 6th - Richard Corliss, TIME magazineTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
- 7th - Ella Taylor, LA WeeklyLA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
- 8th - Dana Stevens, SlateSlate (magazine)Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
- 10th - Peter Rainer, The Christian Science MonitorThe Christian Science MonitorThe Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
Awards
80th Academy Awards80th Academy Awards
The 80th Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films in 2007 and was broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST, February 24, 2008 . During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24...
- Nominated: Best Animated FeatureAcademy Award for Best Animated FeatureThe Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is one of the annual awards given by the Los Angeles-based professional organization, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
. It is the second film ever nominated in this category to be rated PG-13 in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, after The Triplets of BellevilleLes Triplettes de BellevilleThe Triplets of Belleville is a 2003 animated comedy film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. It was released as Belleville Rendez-vous in the United Kingdom...
(also a French film). Additionally, it is the first traditionally animated nominee since 2005's Howl's Moving CastleHowl's Moving Castle (film)is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli and based on the novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones...
. It was also France's Best Foreign Language Film entry, but was not nominated.
65th Golden Globe Awards
65th Golden Globe Awards
The 65th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2007, were scheduled to be presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on January 13, 2008...
- Nominated: Best Foreign Language FilmGolden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language FilmThe Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the awards presented at the Golden Globes, an American film awards ceremony.Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film could be honoured...
César Awards
- Won: Best First Work (Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi)
- Won: Best Writing – Adaptation (Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi)
- Nominated: Best Editing (Stéphane Roche)
- Nominated: Best Film
- Nominated: Best Music Written for a Film (Olivier Bernet)
- Nominated: Best Sound (Samy Bardet, Eric Chevallier and Thierry Lebon)
2007 Cannes Film Festival
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
- Tied: Jury PrizeJury Prize (Cannes Film Festival)The Jury Prize is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It is considered the third most prestigious prize at the film festival, after the Palme d'Or and the Grand Prix....
- Nominated: Palme d'OrPalme d'OrThe Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
2007 European Film Awards
- Nominated: Best Picture
2007 London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
- Southerland Trophy (Grand prize of the festival)
2007 Cinemanila International Film Festival
Cinemanila International Film Festival
The Cinemanila International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Manila, the Philippines. It was founded by Filipino filmmaker Amable "Tikoy" Aguiluz in 1999....
- Special Jury Prize
2007 São Paulo International Film Festival
São Paulo International Film Festival
The São Paulo International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in São Paulo, Brazil since 1976. In 2004 Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami was a member of the jury.-International Jury Award:*2001: The New Country ...
- Won: Best Foreign Language Film
2007 Vancouver International Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival
The Vancouver International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for two weeks in late September and early October...
- Won: Rogers People's Choice Award for Most Popular International Film
See also
- Iranian cinema
- List of animated feature-length films
- List of films based on French-language comics
External links
- "Iranian life in cartoon motion" By N.P. Thompson for Northwest Asian Weekly.
- Interview with Marjane Satrapi about Persepolis at ion magazine