Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2633 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-08-18
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Formats: PAL, Subtitled, Colour
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Synopsis
PERSEPOLIS presents a deeply personal coming-of-age tale about finding one's place in the world. Based on her bestselling graphic novel, Marjane Satrapi teamed up with underground comic book artist Vincent Paronnaud to co-direct this animated big screen adaptation. The result is an electrifying, heartfelt, and original portrait of a spunky girl who surmounts countless obstacles to grow into a wise young adult.

Marjane (voiced by Chiara Mastroianni) is an innocent nine-year-old living in Iran, surrounded by a loving but incredibly protective mother (Catherine Deneuve) and father (Simon Abkarian). She finds comfort in the carefree spirit of her loving grandmother (Danielle Darrieux), as well as music by artists as diverse as ABBA and Iron Maiden. When Marjane’s uncle is killed in the Iran/Iraq war, her parents send her to school in Austria, where she can study in safety. The only trouble is that her Middle Eastern appearance frightens people, giving her a harsh lesson in racial prejudice. Somehow, Marjane’s fiery spirit doesn’t succumb to any of the negativity. Eventually, she returns home to Iran to be closer with her family. But even though she settles into married life, the tyrannical pressures of Iranian society force her to abandon her country once again, sending her to France on another journey. Satrapi and Paronnaud retain the stark, spare animated style of the graphic novels that inspired the film. This is a wise decision: the less specific they get in their visual presentation, the more universal their story becomes. PERSEPOLIS gives viewers several movies in one. It is equal parts coming-of-age story, history lesson, and an animated adventure tale.

Customer Reviews

This simple and powerful film is highly likely to strike a cord in you...
"Persepolis" (2007), written and directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, is a beautifully made film that recounts an engaging tale, that also happens to be true. It is important to point out that even though this is an animated film, it is definitely not for children. Nonetheless, I firmly believe that this funny and somewhat wistful movie is a rare gem that teenagers and adults will appreciate in its full value.

This film is based on the autobiography of one of its directors, Marjane Satrapi, a young woman that grew up in Iran, and lived there both before and after the Iranian revolution that established an Islamic Fundamentalist government, drastically reducing personal liberties and imposing a completely different lifestyle on its citizens, specially on women.

Marjane's story allows us to see her as a young and enthusiastic child that shares her parents hopes regarding the new regime, and as a rebellious teenager that cannot understand the limitations that affect women in her country, and that is sent abroad by her parents in order to protect her. We suffer with Marjane when she tries to find herself in Austria, and understand her feelings when she decides to return to Iran in order to be with her family.

What happens then? Well, you have to watch this film in order to find out. All the same, I can let you know that I loved "Persepolis", and that I think that this simple and powerful film is highly likely to strike a cord in you. Highly recommended...

Belen Alcat

La liberté a toujours un prix.
La liberté a toujours un prix.

How often does a cartoon bring you to tears? Bambi's mother is nothing to what we have here, and, after all, this is actually about real life rather than pure fiction ...
Why should I call a film beautiful when it is heartbreaking, mostly matching the situations to black and heavy greys, with only occasional bursts of colour? This film is superb.
Religious fundamentalism, social oppression and brutality ... worldwide phenomena, from mid-west USA, to Saudi Arabia, in Robespierre's Terror, through the back streets of our own nation, even in Hindu India; throughout our history - and here, of course, in Iran. Marjane Satrapi has done an almost indescribably excellent piece of work in displaying the lot. She does not even make the idiot bigots especially evil: they may act nastily, but somehow you can see that they too are human; they also are victims of mis-directed ideology. And Marjane's grandmother is glorious. Vive la Liberté.
The pace and force of this film's presentation are almost beyond praise.
I must remark that the introductory sections with credits, selection for language, subtitles and so on, are pretty ... but out of tune with what is to follow and strangely annoying to navigate. Perhaps that emphasises the strengths of the film itself! Do choose the French language version - with Danielle Darrieux and Catherine Deneuve speaking who would not? English subtitles if you need them, but the English dubbing is muddy, almost harder to follow, and less accurate than the French - even if your hold on spoken French, like mine, is a bit shaky.
Some of my prejudices are strongly vindicated ... "English" dubbing is usually pretty awful; there is a great strength to be had from clean use of black and white, escaping the distractions of colour, wide screens and so on. A truly great film. Here we have at once universal truths, a particular semi-autobiography, and an examination of Iran in travail.

Easy to criticize, but ...
Some reviewers have criticized Marjane for seemingly complaining that the Iranian regime tried to stop her and her associates from partying. I would not defend partying of this kind, but it is evident that these critical reviewers have not had the experience of living under a tyrannical regime. I would not wish it on anyone. To dissociate oneself from a pervasive and dominant foli à plusieurs is incredibly difficult and many people go insane in the attempt or commit suicide.

In fact this book and DVD is very helpful in understanding how many people inevitably react in a repressive, authoritarian regime when trying to maintain a personal integrity. If you squeeze a balloon in one place, it will splurge out in another - often in an unpalatable way. What amazes me is how dissidents manage to remain sane in authoritarian regimes of this nature. The author, and her family, should be commended for having done so. It also takes courage to produce an account of this sort.

I would unreservedly recommend "Persepolis", both in book form and in DVD format, despite the inevitable unpalatability of some of the content. It may be uncomfortable, but it should function a warning to us as to what could happen in the UK unless we face reality now and stop engaging in denial.