Persepolis

Directed by Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi
3.5 stars
::spoilers alert::

This film is exactly why I don’t like knowing too much about a film prior to seeing it. Going into the theatre, I expected to view a film in which I wouldn’t be able to tell which black & white drawing was the main character & also in which I would see & hear a lot of political rhetoric about Iran.

Boy, was I wrong. Pleasantly surprised.

Within moments, I forgot I was even watching an animated feature. A few more moments after that, I was giggling in my chair.

It’s a coming of age story, really, & more translatable & relatable than I imagined. It’s most definitely told from a woman’s perspective - honest, forthcoming, with both an innocence & rawness that come from living through various sorts of personal hells & triumphs. Marjane is not that different from me. Oh sure, I’ve never lived in war-torn Iran, nor Vienna. I’ve never had to leave my family as a teenager or been forced to cover nearly every inch of my body. But I have played air guitar to rock bands in my bedroom. I have found myself shattered by a lover’s rejection. I have wondered what my place in the world is.

& that, I believe, may be the biggest lesson to be learned in this telling of her life story. That we’re all human & have many more similarities than differences.

Intelligent, witty, defiant … Persepolis is worth watching.