Persepolis (2007) - film review

Teheran, 1978.  The dreams of 8-year-old Marjane are fractured but not crushed when the Shah is deposed and the Islamic Revolution begins.  So begins an era of repression, privation and war, as the country falls into the hands of fundamentalists who brook neither dissent nor individuality.  Despite this, Marjane remains outspoken and idealistic, preferring Abba to Mohammed.  Concerned for her safety, her parents decide to send her to school in Austria.  There, her rebellious streak flourishes as she passes into adolescence...

One of the weirder French films of 2007, Persepolis is a genre-defying cinematic oddity that was both a commercial and critical success, and even managed to scoop the Jury Prize at Cannes that year.  The film, which can be described as an animated socio-political comedy-drama, is an adaptation of a series of comic books by Marjane Satrapi, an Iranian woman who moved to France in the early ’90s to pursue a career as an illustrator of children’s books and writer of graphic novels.  It recounts the author’s own experiences in Iran during the late ’70s and 1980s, taking as its backdrop the fall of the Shah, the foundation of the Islamic Republic, and the war with neighbouring Iraq.  Satrapi co-directed the film with another comic book artist, Vincent Paronnaud.

Persepolis is a film that is both entertaining and informative.  It gives an insight into what life was like for a young woman growing up and trying to find happiness in a country that was upended by revolution and war, a country in which women were (and still are) considered inferior to men and where political dissent was invariably rewarded with arrest and execution.  The attempts by the central character (Marjane Satrapi) to find her own identity reflect those of her country.  Just as Marjane’s efforts are thwarted by a succession of repressive governments, so Iran itself is hampered through the self-interested intervention of the West.  The film does not let us forget that it was the West which fuelled Iran’s war with Iraq, to prevent either country from becoming a strong power in the Middle East and thereby safeguard a cheap supply of oil.  

Given its historical context, the film could so easily have become just an anti-West political rant, but Satrapi avoids this and instead tells her own life story, with charm and humour.  Persepolis may have its darker moments but it also has a fair amount of comedy.  The idea of an Iranian girl having an Abba fixation and being forced to feed this craze by purchasing tapes from shady black marketeers as if they were an illegal substance (no comment) is hilarious.  Satrapi’s various ill-fated love affairs are equally as funny, albeit with a certain poignancy and sincerity.   The one weak point is the over-long Viennese middle section, which feels like a drawn out comic interlude and a detour from what the film ought to be about, which is life in Iran and the heroine’s increasing desperation to escape.   However, if this is a fault, it is one that is easily forgiven.  For anyone with little knowledge of Iran and its turbulent history (which is 99.99 per cent of us, at least), Persepolis is a long overdue eye-opener – a witty, compassionate and intelligent film that provides a far, far deeper understanding of the Iranian people than can be found in the news reports that flash across our TV screens.  Highly recommended.

© James Travers 2009

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