EDITORIAL REVIEWS:
NEW YORK PREMIERE AT NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL 2007
IN THEATRES DECEMBER 25, 2007 (Limited)
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.
() "Mixing memoir, history, and childhood fantasy, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's PERSEPOLIS glides effortlessly from one realm to another."
Film Comment (11/01/2007) "[A] tale that unfolds with such grace, intelligence and charm that you almost take the wondrous aspects of its execution for granted."
New York Times (12/26/2007) "By turns lyrical, serious, funny and acerbic, PERSEPOLIS raises the bar for animation and illustrates the true power of storytelling in illuminating the world and its conflicts."
Box Office (01/01/2008) "[I]t's a paean to the universality of human experience, a testament to the endurance of individuality during great political and fanatical upheaval..."
Los Angeles Times (12/25/2007) "[T]he sassy, nonchalant juxtaposition of political and personal specificity in PERSEPOLIS is a marvel." -- Grade: A
Entertainment Weekly (01/18/2008) 3.5 stars out of 4 -- "It's a mind-blower. Using a few deft strokes of her black pen, Satrapi brings a whole world to life."
Rolling Stone (01/24/2008) 4 stars out of 5 -- "This largely black-and-white, defiantly undetailed and sometimes stylised film could have been made at any point since the dawn of cinema, and yet it's a thoroughly modern affair."
Empire (05/01/2008) 4 stars out of 5 -- "[S]martly wry, searching and truthful....The confidence of this self-portrait proves one thing: Satrapi sure found her creative vocation."
Total Film (06/01/2008) "[A] movie made up of small, telling moments that gifts us with much larger truths."
Sight and Sound (05/01/2008) 3 stars out of 5 -- "PERSEPOLIS offers an excellent, child's-eye guide to recent Iranian history."
Uncut (06/01/2008)
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION NOTES:
Director: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
Producer: Xavier Rigault, Marc-Antoine Robert
Composer: Olivier Bernet
Screenwriter: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
AWARDS:
2007 - Cannes
Jury Prize
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