Persepolis (2007)
I have found myself falling hard for Iranian cinema of late. Alongside the Japanese and the Korean, it has become one of the national traditions I most look forward to exploring, and the films keep rewarding the attention. So many of them are built around revolution, or quiet defiance, or the simple business of holding on to your dignity under a regime that would rather you didn't. Farhadi's work in particular has stayed with me, and There Will Be Blood aside, few films I watched around the same period hit me with quite the same force as A Separation, which I adored and press on anyone who will listen. Persepolis sits right in the thick of that same tradition, and it makes a wonderful place to start if you haven't yet taken the plunge.
Adapted by Marjane Satrapi from her own autobiographical graphic novels, and co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud, it is at heart the story of an ordinary girl growing up in extraordinary times. We follow young Marjane through the 1979 revolution, the long horror of the war with Iraq, a lonely teenage exile in Europe, and a homecoming that leaves her feeling like a stranger in her own country. It is a coming-of-age tale, a history lesson and a portrait of exile all at once, and it carries all three lightly, with a great deal of warmth and no small amount of humour.
The look of it is the first thing that strikes you. A bold, mostly black-and-white style, spare and expressive and quite unlike anything else I can think of, which turns out to be the perfect vehicle for the story rather than a gimmick. There is something about stripping a film back to such simple, stark imagery that forces you to pay attention to the emotion underneath, and this one has emotion to spare. I watched the English-language version, in which Sean Penn, an actor I will always turn up for, lends his voice, and the dub is strong throughout. The soundtrack is lovely too, and the whole thing moves with real grace from one period of Marjane's life to the next.
What lingers, though, is how much feeling it wrings from such simple lines and shapes. It is funny and sad and quietly furious, telling a sweeping personal history without ever losing sight of the frightened, stubborn, wisecracking girl at its centre. There are moments here that would be devastating in any medium. The fact that they land this hard in animation says everything about how well crafted this is. It is not a film that coasts on novelty.
I would rank Persepolis among the finest animated films I have seen, full stop, and one of the best arguments going that animation can carry grown-up, serious stories every bit as well as live action. The conversations I have had over the years about whether animation is somehow a lesser form, something for children or a niche curiosity, feel pretty hollow after watching this. If you want a companion piece from a completely different register, I have a soft spot for The Twelve Tasks of Asterix, which proves in its own way that hand-drawn animation can do things no other format quite matches. But Persepolis is playing a different game entirely, and it wins it.
Four stars, and one more reason Iranian cinema keeps pulling me back for more.
Rating: ★★★★ | Year: 2007 | Watched: 2026-08-16
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Studiocanal Presents Amazon Channel
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Sony Pictures Core Amazon Channel
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Physical: Amazon US
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