Directors: Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi

Rating: 10/10

Note: I have seen both the French and the English versions of this movie, and since I like the French version better, the following review would be based on the French version.

This is a serious and seriously unconventional film, and I loved every minute of it. It is a movie that makes people laugh and cry at the same time, and actually creates three-dimensional characters that probably would not be possible had this movie not been an animated one. The film is a semi-autobiographic one from director Marjane Satrapi, and takes place mostly in Iran and Austria during the Islamic Revolution.

Marjane is a young girl who had always done and spoke whatever was on her mind, which eventually became dangerous as Islamic fundamentalist took over the nation. She went through a tumultuous childhood while loving her uncle, the rest of her family, and The Bee Gees. She then started to listen to…Iron Maiden? Someone needs to explain to me how a person goes from pop to heavy metal. Anyway, life in Tehran became hard, and she left to Vienna alone. She eventually went back to Iran, found out who she really was, and went to France.

Aside from being wondrously quirky and marvelously animated mostly in black and white, the movie is about as involving a story of a journey as one can imagine. I love the fact that the movie, which takes place in place I have never been, is universal. We can all recognize the teacher who doesn’t like to be assaulted, or the person (usually ourselves) that is embarrassed or ashamed to be what she is. The film takes us to familiar territory of the process of a person trying to find herself and discover whom she truly is. It makes us think about ourselves and wonder who we, the viewer are. I’m sure we have all wondered about it once in a while, and I’m sure we are all still on a journey to figure that out.

The movie never forgot that it is supposed to be an animation, and thus, creates scenes and images impossible in a real-people film. Take this for example, Marjane walks in on her boyfriend cheating, and imagines him being a pimpled, disgusting human being that eats his own boogers. It is a hilarious scene. Yet, the audience feels sorry for her. Our emotions are completely in the directors’ hands. The actors that lend their voices are probably not going to be familiar to most people, watching but they are pitch perfect, especially Danielle Darrieux who gave her voice for the grandmother, the voice of sanity in this movie, and the once gorgeous Catherine Deneuve who gave her voice for the mother.

It comes as no wonder that this movie is banned in Iran. But it is always those authoritative nations that misunderstand the meaning of the film. The movie is not a political film targeting the Iranian government, but a journey that celebrates life and treasures everything in it. I urge you to watch this movie as soon as possible to laugh and cry with Marjane.