Persepolis is a 2015 American animated film directed by Marjane Satrapi, based on her graphic novel of the same name. It is about a young girl named Marjane, who escapes from the Iran-Iraq war and starts a new life in the United States. The film received mixed reviews upon its release and did not perform well at the box office.
Contents
Film Setting and Time
Following Persepolis (1977), the film takes place in America, showing characters living during a recent period of time. Marjane’s exploration is shown over her entire life until she leaves Iran as an adult and settles in San Francisco. This can be seen throughout the entirety of events, not concluding with Marjane’s final departure to escape from Iran.
The most memorable part for many is witnessing Margaret Thatcher give a speech at Downing Street after her election to prime minister. The film was produced by Marc Abraham and Eric Beck SpGANSA.
Christine Gasparovic served as the project manager, with expertise in film financing; she also worked on projects like Miramax’s wedding scene comedy WEDDING PLANNER (2001), Disney’s “Enchanted” (2007) and its sequel “Tangled” (2010).
On June 12, 2014 at Comic-Con International 2015 in San Diego it was announced that a film will be produced. It was also announced the voices of Minnie Driver, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon and Paul Rudd would appear in the film as well.
The voice cast for “Persepolis 2” is set to Marjane Satrapi herself as an adult Persepolis; Taraneh Alidoostipour as her 11-year old self (Marjane’s daughter).
Cast And Crew
Marjane Satrapi as Persepolis (1980s adult) Taraneh Alidoostipour as the 11 year old Persepolis Marjane’s daughter.
Simon Beaufoy
writer/director, Martin Asbury as executive producer Eric Beck WGSA as producer
Marc Abraham
interviewer/EVP, Alex Benjamin – VP of production (Miramax Films) .
Employee at “The New York Times” called Marc Abraham’s film “Dramatic and sordid, told by a fervent young woman who has seen it all. This attack on the Mullahs of Iran after their purge puts Ms. Satrapi in danger as well, but she survives to continue her story.”
Persepolis Storyline
The persepolis is the Iranian name for Persepolis which was a summer capital of the Achaemenid kings. Persepolis is the capital of Cyrus the Great. The story After the Iran-Iraq war and in the late eighties, Tehran is a different place.
Marjane has grown up as an ordinary high school student; her father Pouya had found refuge at one end of their house’s courtyard when Khomeini came to power after Islamic Revolution 1979.
The only thing they can do now is make fun of him behind his back… or so it seems until two strangers come into town with luggage full of money but their grown-up daughter seems to have vanished – after leaving clues to her final destination
The shah was Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran. After the 1979 revolution, he left and went into exile in Egypt. He died there on September 27 2005.
The last time he made a public appearance before his reported death was to attend the closing ceremony of Summer Olympics 2000 when 33 Iranian athletes were barred from entering their country by Khomeini’s regime following a religious decree 15 years earlier that they had flouted Iranian law.
After that marij and her parents understand regime more better than he preceded it. Marjane satrapi’s “persepolis” is an autobiographical graphic novel about coming of age during a violent, tumultuous time in iran. Marjane describes her life through the eyes of marjane, whose alter ego is named marji.
The story is told in a style of soft-boiled drama. The narrative consists of 12 chapters, each with its own title and subtitle (some are English, some are Persian).
It starts by introducing the author’s family as early as her fourth birthday. She grows up in an affluent home but doesn’t really fit in there because she has problems identifying herself with them.
Or learning their customs and traditions correctly; also she feels bored for lack of any intelligent conversation that is worth listening to about more than din.”
Once when the author was four, a prominent political family in Iran -The Pahlavis- reignited and rekindled 60 years of Tehran’s patriotic fire after Khomeini fell from power.
So as soon as she is old enough to mentally process what is happening around her (before 9 or 10), she begins absorbing international news and studying it so that one day when she gets older; someone will be talking to her about it.
When she is 8 years old, the author’s mother lets her go on a seven-day school field trip to an agricultural project in Iran with some of their relatives (her aunt and uncle) who are urbanized and French educated.”
The following scene reflects Marjane’s young genuine love for this extreme rural lifestyle but also reveals how much even such seemingly spontaneous events as these trips vary from city life in the absence of any real social contact.
Mazza means a sheep pen and is home to thousands of these purebred lambs whose primordial instincts have been replaced with an urban, domesticated nature which closely resembles suburban America.”
Finally There’s nothing wrong with the contents of that book at all. Of course, some might have seen what was going to happen anyhow and that other things were meant to occur elsewhere in good time.
It also depicts an age-old cultural paradox for which we can only blame ourselves; even if it perhaps deserves our blame more than anything else -where do we actually begin.
Film Humar
The film Humar is a Lebanese dramatization based on her own novel published in French. Director Katayoun Harb met Marjane with a translation of the novel that he wanted to film.
The screenplay by Naboulsi Behrooz and Hadi Saleh is written in an episodic format that was described as not-so-linear at one point, but more linear later on.”
Although they are talking “heads” (friends) rather than feet, it’s very much like seeing people standing barefoot just a step away from the camera. A lot of their exchanges are about dreaming for an ideal society, and many of them even re-organize what’s standing in front of them.”
Aram Khatchatour is good as Homa and Omot Akberi excellent as Ehsan especially a scene where they come to some kind agreement early on -which I think should be become the rule rather than looking at how things actually turned.
Box Office Performanced
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lebanese cinema was engaging in what some critics have called a “New Wave” of filmmaking. Filmmakers such as Michel Khleifi directed films many consider to be among the most important of that era, though often are not well-known even by film scholars.
He directs more than 20 films including; Men Should Mourn Not Show Tears (1989), The Disappeared (1990) which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 1992 Academy Awards, she herself directed of another movie in 1997 and – Khalid said that Gemayel shot it -in short.
Short Review Of Persepolis Movie
Persepolish is a movie that is not understandable on the first look with its drawings, but gets better after you watch it a few times.
If you want to understand then read this movie is an introduction in watching a cartoon meant for kids or some news channel segment about movies and Iran . Many reviews I wrote do too basically saying that Persepolis doesn’t talk about politics and society of Iran -mainly because Marjane Satrapi was just 17 years old when she was in the former Khadija’s life.
The movie beautifully depicts that girl and her “Silk-Roads”, they introduce us to a young and on top of it -full grown woman, how painful most Iranian youth are at this age (mostly you see them yelling outside their house or just act like teenagers), but Marjane shows that powerlessness can be as interesting an experience – as we probably don’t want to admit: it’s true.
Marjane Satrapi was born in Iran and grew up during the revolution, spent a part of her life under Khomeinist regime and other parts in France – she left for USA when is was only 18 years old to continue with studying -alone.. show us how difficult that can be from all sides .
Final Thought
I do believe that Persepolis is a notable movie, as it represents not only Marjane’s life but also the lives of many others. It has big parts where her drawings and story telling are better than the written one –awfully rare in movies; so if you have time watch this excellent movie -just once.
FAQs
1.What Is Good About Persepolis?
Ans: I really found this movie really good. It has a tight script, great story telling and it doesn’t bother going too far with political views but goes deeper into the subject without creating ridiculous or exaggerating anything –or any propaganda at all- on the other side Iran is portrayed as a country where everyone avoids to live because of their parents backgrounds -just like one in France (see my Parsley Part Two analyse).
2.What Is Persepolis About by Satrapi?
Ans: Persepolis is a beautiful Movie on many levels. It tells the story of Marji’s childhood and teenage years in iran during the time of The Islamic Revolution (1979 to present).
It also shows us how she grew up as an intelligent woman who understood that all people have different opinions and beliefs, even if those opinions do not align with her own. Her struggles alongside young girls, in particular Fatemeh are shown through her drawings which portray very clearly.
3.What Are the Main Themes of Persepolis?
Ans: My main themes would include the life of Marjane Satrapi as a child and an adult in Iran –especially during The Islamic Revolution. It also offers many other hidden meanings, but that is the one I will concentrate on here.
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