I saw Persepolis earlier this week, and it was the charming and life-affirming antidote to everything that I was lamenting in cinema recently. Stark and seemingly simple in its greyscale animation it tells a very human and universal story of growing up, only against the backdrop of the Iranian revolution.
Marji is one of the most solidly drawn female character that I have seen in cinema recently, showing her as a punky kid, dangerously rebelling against Islamic fundamentalists. It is the autobiographical story of Marjane Satrapi and what I like most about it is that it gives us unsentimental and somewhat unedited access to her inner world. When her first boyfriend dumps her, he morphs from being a Viennese demi-god into an acne pocked, buck toothed monster. When she goes back to Iran and slides into depression we both empathise with Marji’s situation, but also feel Satrapi’s frustration with the self-indulgence of her childhood self.
Persepolis is both a highly engaging film, but is also one which has the capacity to break down the otherness that many people from Western societies feel towards those in Islamic ones. It is simultaneously heart-breaking, heart-warming, charming and just a beautiful film and I can’t recommend it enough.