World Cinema: Persepolis (2007)

Persepolis 2007 directed my Marjane Satrapi, is a coming of age animated drama based at the time of a revolution, based on a true story as lived by the director. Marjane shows her experience with a beautifully made animation, it shows and explains her difficult childhood growing up in Iran and how it effected herself as she grew into adulthood. It explores her world politically, culturally and personally, Marjane's animation shows us how the Iranian revolution affected her life and those around her.

Persepolis is a beautifully crafted animated piece showing the wears and tears of war and what effect it has on those around the centre of conflict. The film is a cross between an Iranian and French animation work, due to Satrapi's nationality and to where she continued to live out her life in France following the end of the animation. The animation visually shows influences from French art, for example Art Nouveau could be argued as being used within the animation from the contrast of the black colours and smooth flowing lines.

The style of the work is bold and gives off the overall appearance of the original graphic novel that Satrapi created prior to the animation. As the film progresses we follow Marjane as she goes from place to place on her own without her family, leading her to find her own way without the guidance of her family - this shows how she develops personally as an individual.

Overall the animation shows how change can effect someone and the animation itself in terms of art direction helps to convey this throughout the film with the use of character development and the scenes in which it is set at the times of Marjane's life. As a child, the character seems so innocent and silly in some ways but as she develops the design becomes more serious and darker when looking at the overall design and also scenes.

Illustration List:

Figure 1: Persepolis film poster - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808417/

Figure 2: Film still - http://theredlist.com/wiki-2-17-513-863-1311-1314-view-drama-emotion-9-profile-2007-bpersepolis-b.html