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MOVIES / ON DVD / PERSEPOLIS
Persepolis

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Persepolis (2007)

95%
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89%
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95 %
Reviews Counted: 110 Fresh: 104  Rotten:6 Average Rating: 8.1/10
 
Consensus: An emotionally powerful, dramatically enthralling autobiographical gem. Persepolis is an emotionally powerful, dramatically enthralling autobiographical gem. The film's simple black-and-white images are effective and bold, helping to place the focus on the poignant and sometimes heartbreaking coming of age story. Marjane Satrapi's bestselling graphic novel springs to life and flourishes on film, making Persepolis not only one of the year's best animated films, but one of the year's best films overall. more
 
Rated: 12A
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Theatrical Release: 25-04-2008
Synopsis:
NEW YORK PREMIERE AT NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL 2007 (Limited) PERSEPOLIS presents a deeply personal coming-of-age tale about finding one's place in the world. Based on her bestselling graphic novel, Marjane Satrapi teamed up with underground comic book artist Vincent Paronnaud to... [More]
NEW YORK PREMIERE AT NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL 2007 (Limited) PERSEPOLIS presents a deeply personal coming-of-age tale about finding one's place in the world. Based on her bestselling graphic novel, Marjane Satrapi teamed up with underground comic book artist Vincent Paronnaud to co-direct this animated big screen adaptation. The result is an electrifying, heartfelt, and original portrait of a spunky girl who surmounts countless obstacles to grow into a wise young adult. Marjane (voiced by Chiara Mastroianni) is an innocent nine-year-old living in Iran, surrounded by a loving but incredibly protective mother (Catherine Deneuve) and father (Simon Abkarian). She finds comfort in the carefree spirit of her loving grandmother (Danielle Darrieux), as well as music by artists as diverse as ABBA and Iron Maiden. When Marjane's uncle is killed in the Iran/Iraq war, her parents send her to school in Austria, where she can study in safety. The only trouble is that her Middle Eastern appearance frightens people, giving her a harsh lesson in racial prejudice. Somehow, Marjane's fiery spirit doesn't succumb to any of the negativity. Eventually, she returns home to Iran to be closer with her family. But even though she settles into married life, the tyrannical pressures of Iranian society force her to abandon her country once again, sending her to France on another journey. Satrapi and Paronnaud retain the stark, spare animated style of the graphic novels that inspired the film. This is a wise decision: the less specific they get in their visual presentation, the more universal their story becomes. PERSEPOLIS gives viewers several movies in one. It is equal parts coming-of-age story, history lesson, and an animated adventure tale. [Less]

Genre: Animation, Animated, True Story, Based On A Novel, Animation/General, Family Life, France, Anime/Japanimation, Japanimation (Anime)

Starring: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Simon Abkarian, Gabrielle Lopes

Director: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud
Screenwriter: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud
Producer: Marc-Antoine Robert, Xavier Rigault
Composer: Olivier Bernet

DVD Info

Release:

Dec 6, 2009

[DVD Details]

Blu-ray Features:

  • Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - French, English
  • Subtitles - English (SDH), Spanish - Optional

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image

A moving, funny, personal yet universal tale of one woman's life growing up amid political turbulence, animated with concise artistry.

Full Review | Comment
04/25/08 09:56 AM
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

It's all based on the creepy little Chinese film Gin gwai, an atmospheric spine-tingler that, we're sad to say, is considerably more frightening than this tame effort.

Full Review | Comment
04/25/08 09:45 AM
Orlando Parfitt
IGN Movies UK
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Persepolis makes this most difficult of subjects at once watchable, accesible, and ultimately unforgettable.

Full Review | Comment
04/25/08 09:40 AM
Chris Tilly
IGN Movies UK
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The predominantly black-and-white animation is used to amusing effect as Satrapi gently pokes fun at her youthful exuberance and innocence, making serious political points easy to swallow. The lack of sense of direction is the film's only let-down.

Full Review | Comment
04/25/08 07:03 AM
Anna Smith
BBC
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A delightful, curious film that indulges in both the personal and the political and provides a potted history of modern Iran through one woman’s experience.

Full Review | Comment
04/25/08 03:14 AM
Dave Calhoun
Time Out
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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.

Full Review | Comment
04/25/08 02:48 AM
Helen OHara
Empire Magazine
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Beautifully animated, thoroughly engaging coming-of-age drama that is by turns moving, thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny.

Full Review | Comment
11/01/07 03:15 AM
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
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As a reminder that Iran is a complex society with a long tradition of cosmopolitan interchange with the West, Persepolis could hardly be more welcome. As a narrative, however, the film sometimes loses its way.

Full Review | Comment
05/10/08 02:33 PM
Thomas Peyser
Style Weekly (Richmond, VA)
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[I]t's that balance of quotidian personal struggles taking place alongside the larger scope of political upheaval and repression that makes Persepolis such a riveting film.

Full Review | Comment
05/01/08 03:56 PM
Alonso Duralde
MSNBC
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
04/21/08 03:15 AM
culturevulture.net
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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Persepolis is very different and bold, beautiful and moving.

Full Review | Comment
03/29/08 11:56 AM
Karina Montgomery
Cinerina
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The political component is understated, but then it suddenly slips in and snaps at you.

Full Review | Comment
03/27/08 01:13 PM
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly
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A lot of beautiful animated sequences that could only come to life in movement . . . We've had this incredible wave of films giving us Iran from an insider's point of view--maybe now it's time for the exile's.

Full Review | Comment
03/01/08 04:19 PM
Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
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Serve para ilustrar como uma técnica historicamente associada a filmes infantis vem criando obras que representam o que de melhor o Cinema mundial tem oferecido ao público mais maduro.

Full Review | Comment
02/26/08 10:42 PM
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
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Full Review | Comment
02/26/08 03:15 AM
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk
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what might in other hands have been ethnographic agitprop is instead an engaging, character-based tragicomedy, grounded in what might be called the politics of real people.

Full Review | Comment
02/21/08 12:01 PM
Anton Bitel
Eye for Film
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Satrapi is ultimately less an Iranian girl than she's like any young person anywhere.

Full Review | Comment
02/19/08 11:15 PM
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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Full Review | Comment
02/19/08 03:15 AM
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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Has more intelligence than the usual animation.

Full Review | Comment
02/16/08 05:08 PM
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ratings Image

If Charles M. Schulz's 'Peanuts' cast was transported inside 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,' the visual result might resemble this film...

Full Review | Comment
02/15/08 11:57 AM
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
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