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Persepolis
Sony Pictures Classics


8.1

based on 31 reviews
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based on 43 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for mature thematic material including violent images, sexual references, language and brief drug content

Starring Catherine Deneuve, and Chiara Mastroianni

Persepolis is the poignant story of a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It is through the eyes of the precocious and outspoken 9-year-old Marjane that we see a people's hopes dashed as fundamentalists take power--forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands. Clever and fearless, Marjane outsmarts the "social guardians" and discovers punk, ABBA, and Iron Maiden. Yet when her uncle is senselessly executed and as bombs fall around Tehran in the Iran/Iraq war, the daily fear that permeates life in Iran is palpable. (Sony Classics)

GENRE(S):	Animation \| Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Marjane Satrapi (novel, comic & screenplay) Vincent Paronnaud
DIRECTED BY:	Vincent Paronnaud Marjane Satrapi
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 24, 2008 Theatrical: December 25, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	95 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	France / USA
LANGUAGE(S):	French / English / Persian / German

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Newsweek David Ansen

It's not to be missed in any language. In a year that has given us such marvelous animated movies as "Ratatouille" and "Paprika," this vibrant, sly and moving personal odyssey takes pride of place.

100

USA Today Claudia Puig

Cinematic poetry in black and white. It also is a deeply affecting tale of the power of resilience and an unflagging sense of humor through the worst of situations

100

Slate Dana Stevens

A completely different kind of animated movie that, even more than "Ratatouille," reimagines what the medium can do.

100

Premiere Glenn Kenny

While avoiding specious bromides about universality, Persepolis insists on communicating with its audience, and insists that communication and empathy are the keys to our survival.

100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The movie sparkles with witty self-awareness.

100

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

If "Ratatouille" taught the world that rats have feelings too, Persepolis teaches the same thing about the people of Iran, who in the current political climate are probably in greater danger of being eradicated.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

While so many films about coming of age involve manufactured dilemmas, here is one about a woman who indeed does come of age, and magnificently.

100

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Persepolis, the superb film based on Satrapi's graphic memoirs of the same name, is a riveting odyssey in pictures and words. It's unlike any journal you've read or any animated movie you've seen.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Fascinating memoir of coming of age in Iran.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

In a stroke of voice-casting genius, the voices of Marjane and her mother are provided by real-life mother and daughter Chiara Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve, respectively, both of whom bring heft and measured emotion to the characters.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

The two main points Persepolis makes are that strife is relative, and all politics are personal.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Persepolis, austere as it may look, is full of warmth and surprise, alive with humor and a fierce independence of spirit.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Satrapi’s parents ship her off to a French school in Vienna, but she’s rudderless, ungrounded. She’s drawn back to a devastated Tehran, where she can’t design a life, either. This great film, by Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, is that life, designed. It freed her mind; it frees ours.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The filmmakers were right to believe that a live-action version of this story would have failed to achieve the universality Persepolis does.

Variety Lisa Nesselson

This autobiographical tour de force is completely accessible and art of a very high order.

Village Voice Nick Pinkerton

Persepolis is a small landmark in feature animation. Not because of technical innovation--though it moves fluidly enough, and its drawings have a handcrafted charm forgotten in the era of the cross-promoted-to-saturation CGI-'toon juggernauts--but because it translates a sensitive, introspective, true-to-life, "adult" comic story into moving pictures.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A dazzlingly smart and entertaining animated feature by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, looks like a black-and-white graphic novel come to life.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Though you might have a hard time discussing some of the film’s verbal descriptions of torture with young ones, Persepolis will prove a worthwhile movie for thoughtful teens.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

They're both tales of growing up in the shadow of Islamic fundamentalism, but Persepolis is everything "The Kite Runner" is not. It's a personal memoir rather than fiction, coolly observant instead of melodramatic, female rather than male in sensibility and sense of humor - it has a sense of humor.

Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson

Without significantly changing the books’ content, they bring in a wealth of emotional tones--particularly a playful, wry humor.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Persepolis is as modern as tomorrow's headlines and as classic as an ancient myth.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The black-and-white animation won't dazzle your eyes, but everything else about Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's adaptation of Satrapi's graphic comic book series Persepolis will hold you in its thrall.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The French-language voice cast is first-rate, although the film will also be released in the U.S. in an English-language version featuring Sean Penn, Iggy Pop and Gena Rowlands in addition to Deneuve and Mastroianni.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

You can learn about the grand shifts of history from Persepolis, but you learn about a handful of lives as well.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The movie, while no fun, faces hard truths and asks hard questions.

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

The combination of pen, ink and geopolitical strife have yet to yield anything quite like it.

Empire Helen O'Hara

The monochrome animation is stark and beautiful, and Marjane’s an appealing narrator. Often hilarious, sometimes tragic, this may be low-tech, but it’s high-class.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

A familiar story set in an unfamiliar context, it's a paean to the universality of human experience, a testament to the endurance of individuality during great political and fanatical upheaval, and a reminder that even the most complex situations, identities and stories are heartbreakingly simple.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

It is a vivid, at times heartbreaking, portrait of a life and a nation in crisis.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

It's striking how much emotion Satrapi is able to convey through blocky drawings.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

There is no denying the boldness of Persepolis, both in design and in moral complaint, but there must surely be moments, in Marjane’s life as in ours, that cry out for cross-hatching and the grown-up grayness of doubt.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 43 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

anonymous gave it a0:
Yeah yippee, wave the flag of freedom because we love democracy so much, it’s all just so great. I don't even need to see this film to read straight through the anti-Arabic anti-Iranian anti-Islamic propaganda. How timely, just as the yanks, the Brits, and the French (including a mossad agent Nicolas Sarkozy for a president), are debating when to invade Iran in face of negative public opinion. Get real people, and start thinking for yourselves.

Penny L. gave it a6:
I liked the animation; I found it charming. I found it hard to sympathize with the protagonist. She's quite irritating and shallow in my opinion, and though at times her story is dramatic and tragic, it's the events themselves that are fascinating, not her interpretation/experience of them. I also saw this dubbed in English and I don't recommend it. The voice acting is kind of flat, even though some reputable actors were involved. A film that could have been fantastic. It just didn't come through for me.

Sony Pictures gave it a10:
Very good for the sexual content.

Holly C. gave it an8:
Great adaptation--I really enjoyed the art and keeping those same tones in the film was an exceptional move considering the technology or temptation to do live-action. the books (and by the same meaning, the film) are definitely navel-gazing--but it is an interesting naval--so it works for what it is. (and I love the grandmother to bits).

Jabez H. gave it a10:
Amazing animation and moving story. An essential movie, best in a while. See it immediately.

C M. gave it a10:
Everyone should see this film.

Jay H. gave it a7:
Although it is a moving and fascinating film, I am not quite sure what all the fuss is about. It does have a nice balance of of drama and comedy. The animation is effective but way too simple. It doesn't need to be Pixar, but it's not far from being stick figures. Well defined characters. It would have made an excellent non-animated film.

Persepolis Sony Pictures Classics

Persepolis
Sony Pictures Classics