A painting of me

Persepolis: Movie

   14 February 2008, early morning

I watched Persepolis with Limin, Vinnie and Shima. The movie is based on the graphic novels of the same name, which narrate the early life of their author, Marjane Satrapi. Almost the entire contents of the first two novels makes it into the movie. Clearly, due to time constraints and the nature of the medium, some elements aren’t as fleshed out as others; and of course, with animation, you can sometimes quickly express something that might have taken several panels to do in a comic. The only thing I noticed that was different in the film — though I need to confirm this — is the inclusion of a section where Satrapi discusses her depression and a suicide attempt. Shima thinks this was in the book, but I can’t recall it at all. I could see her going back and adding elements to the story she was too shy to write about initially. The movie — perhaps because of its pace — feels more like a documentary than an autobiography. I suppose the books in their own way are also a brief history of Iran. The art work is excellent.The movie captures the aesthetic of the book: the simple figures and high contrast blacks and whites. The movie uses what looks like watercolor or graphite shaded backgrounds in addition to the books simple black and white ink ones. The animation was amazing. The movie is great: if you have a chance to see this in the city you live in you really should. I had very high expectations for this film and it met them all. The movie’s ending made Shima cry — and Shima knows how the book ends!

The official Persepolis movie web site.

 

Comments

  1. I don’t think everyone/anyone will have the same reaction to the ending, but I miss my grandma so much.

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