Persepolis (2007)
About This Movie
Marjane Satrapi's animated memoir of growing up during Iran's Islamic Revolution traces her journey from rebellious child in Tehran to displaced teenager in Europe and back, told in stark black and white animation that turns personal memory into universal experience. The film captures the specific pain of watching your country transform around you and the specific comedy of being a teenager who wants to listen to Iron Maiden while a revolution unfolds outside.
Why It's a Classic
Satrapi and co-director Vincent Paronnaud adapted her graphic memoir with a visual clarity that proves hand-drawn animation can convey political reality as powerfully as any documentary. The childhood sequences, where young Marjane imagines conversations with God and Bruce Lee, capture the way children process incomprehensible adult events through fantasy and defiance. The film's black and white palette, which shifts between angular present-day realism and rounded childhood memory, creates an aesthetic unity that enriches the storytelling. The European exile sequences, where Marjane discovers that Western freedom brings its own forms of alienation, complicate the narrative into something richer than a simple escape-from-oppression story. Chiara Mastroianni voices the adult Marjane with a dry humor that keeps even the most painful memories from becoming self-pitying.
Fun Fact
The film was banned in Iran, though bootleg copies circulated widely. Satrapi drew over 600 pages of storyboards for the animation team. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, losing to Ratatouille. Lebanon briefly banned the film after complaints that it insulted Iran, but lifted the ban after public protest. Satrapi has said that the punk rock and heavy metal she listened to during the revolution literally saved her sanity.
Parent Note
The film depicts war, political imprisonment, execution (handled graphically in silhouette), and torture. There are scenes of depression and a suicide attempt. Drug use and sexuality are addressed frankly. The content reflects the realities of living through a revolution and exile. In French with subtitles (or English dubbed version). Rated PG-13. The animation style softens some of the harshest content, making it accessible to mature teens and up.
Quick Facts
- Year
- 2007
- Type
- 🎬 Movie
- Category
- Coming of Age
- Age Group
- Adults (Ages 18+)