Metascore

Universal acclaim - based on 31 Critics What's this?

User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 93 Ratings

  • Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni
  • Summary: 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) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. 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.
  2. 100
    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.
  3. Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    100
    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
  4. 80
    The combination of pen, ink and geopolitical strife have yet to yield anything quite like it.

See all 31 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 39
  3. Negative: 5 out of 39
  1. AndrewG
    10
    God, this film was funny.
  2. Visually beautiful, especially with the use of the white and black, 'Persepolis' achieves what many animated films lately have lacked: to give us some actual knowledge about something happening in the world. As beautiful as 'Up' and 'Toy Story 3' may be, they do not teach us about the world things we haven't known before. 'Persepolis' gives us a tangible example of the diversity of cultures, ways of thinking and acting and how someone may be found to be living in the wrong place.
    I do not believe that this is an anti-Iranian film, after all, one of the "takeaway points" of the film is to be proud of who you are - which the director/author clearly is, and she makes it a point of pride. However, politics in Iran are definitely under attack here - but why not? Just because it is an animated film does not mean it cannot contain messages: clearly, what was happening in Iran at the time of the Islamic Revolution was not right, irrelevant of whether one believes it is 'anti-Iranian' to think that way or not. And, I think, most importantly, it shows to world-audiences (and especially US audiences) that Iran has also people who are like themselves, just that one cannot express it openly, and that Iran used to be quite a "normal" place before the revolution - not unlike Europe or anywhere else in the 'developed' world.

    Definitely, it is a highly recommendable film for its artistry and its heart-wrenching story.
    Expand
  3. Marjane Sitrapi's shocking life story (based upon her graphic novel of a memoir) depicting her life growing up before and during the Islamic Revolution. Expand
  4. FannyP.
    2
    She is soooooo annoying.

See all 39 User Reviews

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