Persepolis is the most human film I have seen in a long time. The arbitrary cruelness of life, the banality of adolescence and the pressures to conform and to resist feature prominently in this autobiographical film based upon the four-book series by Marjane Satrapi, who co-directed the film along with Vincent Paronnaud.
While it may seem strange to comment on animation's humanness, the film succeeds not in spite of it being a cartoon, but because of it. The film's humanness is actually elevated by it being an animation. The minimalism and beauty of the images reflect the simplicity and power of the story they tell. The austere, flat images of black and white (though with a framing story told in color) tells the tale of an Iranian girl's coming of age.
The film begins in Tehran in 1978, where Marjane (voiced at age eight by Gabrielle Lopes), her left-wing intellectual parents (Catherine Deneuve and Simon Abkarian) and her strong-willed and affectionate grandmother (Danielle Darrieux) reside. Marjane is a cute yet precocious little girl who is enthralled when the adults talk politics, but is perhaps even more interested in her hero, Bruce Lee.
The film provides the neccesary and illuminating background, tracing the tumultuous history of modern Iran. Marjane's family suffers initially under the Shah's dictatorship and then subsequently under the rule of the mullahs. After the Islamic revolutionaries overthrow the Shah, they turn on their secular allies and impose strict laws on the population. For example, Western music becomes illegal, and Marjane must quench her Iron Maiden thirst by purchasing albums on the black market.
Her parents eventually send her to Vienna to prevent her from being stifled by the repressive atmosphere of Iran. Marjane is forced to face being an outsider in Europe, where despite the prominence of youth subcultures and self-affirmed liberalness, there exist thinly veiled nationalisms that produce a tension between assimilation and retaining one's own identity.
Marjane eventually returns home and finds a society that seems even more repressive than when she left. She must struggle with the challenges of love, marriage and loss. While all this might seem unmanagable in a mere 95 minutes, the sheer brilliance of Satrapi and Paronnaud produced a film that, while profound and emotionally invigorating, is ultimately simple in its narrative techniques. It is rare for a cartoon to be able to bring one to tears (for the record, I plead innocent).
Yes, the film is in French and has subtitles. However, do not let this discourage you. While many foreign language animated films are dubbed when transported to America, it is very fortunate that this did not occur with Persepolis. The three leading female characters are voiced by three celebrated French actresses, Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve and Danielle Darrieux. The lyrical sound of the voices can be heard regardless of one's facility with the French language. This musicality coupled with the artistry of the images makes Persepolis one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen, both animated and not. Furthermore, Marjane and her mother are voiced by a real life mother-daughter combo, Deneuve is Mastroiani's real-life mother.
Persepolis does not transcend genres, rather it reinforces the great potential for animation. It is telling that it is still novel to have a serious cartoon. We tend to think of cartoons as primarily for children. I do not mean this pejoratively for films like The Lion King or Ratatouille, which can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike. What I mean is that there is no reason that a cartoon cannot be as sophisticated, or moving, or even as risqué as any live-action movie. However, Persepolis is not a melodrama, but rather is full of lively wit. You'll laugh as well as cry, or so the expression goes.
But the importance of this film goes beyond artistic considerations. In our day of heightened rhetoric against our so called enemies or "rogue states," it is essential that we not forget the commonalities that we share as humans. Love, fear, family, death. These are not hemispheric-specific values. Persepolis, in its simple tale of one girl's coming of age, powerfully reminds us of our shared values, aspirations and faults.
