Persepolis, written and directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud - 10 out of 10

Persepolis, written and directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud

10 out of 10

Persepolis is a phenomenal, outstanding animated motion picture – with a PG 13 rating – winner of the Jury Prize at the most important cinematic celebration in the world, The Cannes Film Festival in 2007 and nominated for an Oscar, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film.

Chiara Mastroianni gives voice to the main character, Marjane, her real life mother, the legendary Catherine Deneuve, portrays the mother in the film, while another titan, Danielle Darrieux, is the grandmother- a gentle, serene, honest, just woman that keeps the lavender she collects in the morning in her bosom.

This astounding, stupendous feature tells the story of a teenager, who would become a young woman, based evidently on the life of one of the writers-directors of this movie, called Marjane Satrapi – it would not be a pure coincidence.

Persepolis is also the fascinating narrative of the events that took place in Iran, before, during and after their Islamic Revolution of 1979, with its excesses, elimination of most basic freedoms, reaching the point where today, this once great nation – the people is not to blame for what the tyrants, ayatollahs at the top do – is a sponsor of terrorism in Syria, Lebanon and around the Middle East and elsewhere.

Granted, the foolish clown in the White House has made a serious – one of a multitude - - mistake when he pulled out of the nuclear agreement, instead of negotiating and adding the missile program to the aspects to watch and curtail in this very aggressive, Islamic Republic that had once been the core of the Persian Empire and fantastic civilization.

Before the advent of the loathsome ayatollah Khomeini, Iran has had other bad leaders – albeit not as awful as the case was after becoming an Islamic state – the Shah and his father, rulers who have engaged in some modernizing projects, wanted a Western type of society, but jailed dissidents and abused power and their citizens.

The uncle of the heroine was a communist – no sympathy from the under signed here, who has had to live in a communist society and still faces the consequences of the Animal Farm – and therefore imprisoned by the Shah, together with other opponents and militants.

When  the fundamentalists gain power, they resort to even worse tactics and rules, taking to prison ten times more people than the previous regime, turning women into second class citizens that have to wear the hijab, banning alcohol and in general, almost all the basic human rights.

Marji, as the protagonist is called by her family and friends, is a very vocal, brave girl and she talks about the absurdity of this new system, pointing for instance the fact that women have to cover all their body, hair, to avoid tempting in any way the men that are free to expose themselves in any way they want…is this fair, just and the way a decent society should be?

Fearing for her, the mother says that these fundamentalists would sentence her to death – as they have done with so many, including a girl they know, who worked with her father, the man who forged passports for refugees – but because their perverted beliefs would not allow them to hang a virgin, they would give her to an Islamic guardian to force himself on her before they execute her and her mother would kill anyone who touches a hair of her girl.

The family sends Marji to Vienna, to enlist with the French high school – my girl is a student of the local Lycee Francais – and stay with a friend, who allows her a limited facility and then sends her packing, in a difficult Strange New World, where she struggles to find friends in a community where many are bored, rich, anarchists, complaining about having to join their families for holidays in Monte Carlo.

The heroine speaks about the grotesque disability of these privileged rich classes to understand that while they complain about minor, foolish insouciances, people in Iran and other places fight for basic human rights, die opposing tyrannical regimes, dictators that oppress their subjects.

After changing lodgings frequently, Marji ends up as the tenant of a vicious woman that, while the girl is in serious emotional, romantic crisis since her boyfriend had slept with her and then cheated almost instantly, accuses her of stealing something and infuriating the heroine to the point where she runs on the street, where she would live for a few months, eating from garbage bins and ultimately succumbing to cold and disease.

She calls her parents and asks to return to Teheran, where the regime is the same and their abuses take at times humorous turns, as in the instance when they are stopped by the religious guardians as they drive and then taken to their home where they wanted to check if they have any alcohol – which was illegal.

While the father tries to gain time, the women are supposed to go upstairs, claiming they have to care for the diabetic patient, trying to pour all the wine artificially produced in the basement into the toilet sink before the thugs enter the house- alas, they finish all the wine needlessly, since a bribe took care of the incident before any search would be enforced.

Many die in the war with Iraq and all that is left for the families of the deceased is names of streets in Teheran, which feels like a great graveyard, where the religious fanatics roam searching for victims.

One day, Marji is running and is stopped by two patrolmen, who tell her to stop it, for while she moves like that, her bottom is “inappropriately” – perhaps they said something like luridly – creating discomfort…

Stop looking at my ass (cul in French) then!

Persepolis is a memorable, overwhelming, unusual, remarkable, excellent motion picture!