Persepolis Turns Marjane Satrapi’s Autobiography Into a Moving, Funny Look at a Country Falling Apart

Persepolis is a 2007 French-language animated drama that turns a grim autobiography into something rare: a moving, often funny film about a country falling apart. Directed and co-written by Marjane Satrapi, the film adapts her own graphic novel about growing up in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution and the Islamic Revolution that followed it. It is a story about family, politics, and the cost of staying alive in a place that keeps changing its rules.

The film opens at Orly Airport, where Marji, voiced by Chiara Mastroianni, sits alone before returning to Tehran. Her memories pull back to the 1970s, when she watched the Shah’s defeat with her idealistic family. The story moves through several distinct chapters:

1. The Shah’s fall and the rise of Islamic law, which forces women to dress modestly and wear headscarves.
2. Her uncle Anoosh’s release from prison, his execution for political beliefs, and the Iran-Iraq War that strips Iranians of more freedoms.
3. Her uncle Taher’s heart attack and his death after failing to leave the country legally.
4. Her aunt’s failed attempt to get permission from a former window washer who is incompetent and submissive to religion.
5. Her own exile to a French lycée in Vienna, where she lives with her mother’s best friend, and later in a boarding house with Catholic nuns.

Satrapi’s script is spare and exact. The animation, black-and-white and drawn in a deliberately simple style, matches the memoir’s tone. The voice cast is strong across the board: Catherine Deneuve as Marji’s mother, Danielle Darrieux as her grandmother, Simon Abkarian as her father, and François Jérôme as Uncle Anouche.

What sets Persepolis apart is its refusal to be a lecture. Satrapi’s humor cuts through the tragedy, and the film’s visual style, with its flat black-and-white figures and stark compositions, never pretends to be anything more than what it is: a personal story told with clarity and wit.

The film’s emotional core is Marji’s relationship with her family, especially her grandmother, who offers wisdom and comfort even as the regime closes in around them. The political context is rendered with restraint, never overwhelmed by it.

Persepolis is not a perfect film. Some of the middle sections drag, and the pacing slows in stretches between major plot points. But the strength of the central performance, the sharpness of the writing, and the courage of the subject matter carry it through.

The film won the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, sharing the award with Silent Light. It earned universal praise from critics and became the first film to be selected as the French entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category. It also received a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the 80th Academy Awards, making Satrapi the first woman to be nominated in that category.

Persepolis is a remarkable achievement: a deeply personal story told with restraint, humor, and honesty. It is a film that honors its subject without romanticizing it, and it stands as one of the finest animated dramas ever made. It earns a score of 9 of 10.

Trailer, via Sony Pictures Classics.

animated film · Iranian Revolution · Marjane Satrapi · movie review · Persepolis