ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION INFORMATION

Animation Coordinator Desmares, Christian

Art Director Jousset, Marc

Assistant Director Walgenwitz, Denis

Digital Compositor Roche, Stephane

Film Editor Roche, Stephane

Music Bernet, Olivier

Producer Rigault, Xavier

Producer Robert, Marc-Antoine

Production Design Musy, Marisa

Screenwriter Satrapi, Marjane

Sound Lebon, Thierry

Production Company 2.4.7 Films

Production Company Celluloid Dreams

Principal Cast Abkarian, Simon

Principal Cast Darrieux, Danielle

Principal Cast Deneuve, Catherine

Principal Cast Jerosme, Francois

Principal Cast Lopes, Gabrielle

Principal Cast Mastroianni, Chiara

DESCRIPTION

TIFF NOTE

Persepolis is the much-anticipated animated adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's acclaimed series of autobiographical graphic novels. Satrapi's darkly humorous take on her experiences as a spirited young Muslim woman coming of age in Tehran - during the rule of the Shah, the Islamic Revolution and the gruelling Iran-Iraq War - makes for a bracingly original story. We follow the misadventures of Marjane (Gabrielle Lopes and Chiara Mastroianni) from mischievous little girl in Iran to rebellious teenager finding first love amid decadent anarchists at a snooty French school in Vienna. The film then charts the young woman's heavy-hearted return to Iran, and finally her emigration to Paris. Marjane's story presents the bloody history of her homeland over the last quarter century in microcosm: the Communists in her family fought against the Shah only to be persecuted even more harshly by the Islamists who took his place. If the film sounds brutal, it maintains a refreshing levity as each gritty, haunting real-world event is balanced with a flight of fancy. These come courtesy of Persepolis's charming animation style - bold, graphic, simple yet forcefully stylized. Life in Iran politicizes the highly impressionable Marjane at a young age, but her primary activity becomes the search for her own identity. Surrounded by turmoil and oppression, Marjane still struggles with more intangible tensions and dilemmas women everywhere will understand, such as the conflict between a warm and open home life and the harsh outside world, or the question of what to say out loud versus what to keep to oneself. Some of the funniest moments in the film come from the Islamic authorities' demonization of American popular culture, as when Marjane's teachers decry her Nike shoes as "punk." What stays with you most, however, is Marjane's intensely close relationship to her mother (Catherine Deneuve), father (Simon Abkarian) and grandmother (Danielle Darrieux) - who always smells good because she tucks jasmine into her brassiere every morning. Directed by Satrapi herself, along with fellow comics artist Vincent Paronnaud, the film manages not only to be faithful to the much-loved books, but to create from them a daring cinematic experience.

FESTIVAL PROGRAMMING HISTORY

TIFF CINEMATHEQUE PROGRAMMING HISTORY

TIFF YEAR-ROUND PROGRAMMING HISTORY

SUBJECTS

RELATED RECORDS

FRL-83612 research file

FRL-133186