Persepolis is Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi’s movie and it is based on the latter’s autobiographical graphic novel. The project was screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, when it was the subject of political controversy.

Completely different from most of the other animated movies, Persepolis is a real drama in its essence. Based on director Marjane Satrapi’s popular French comic book, Persepolis tells the story of her own growing up, repressed under the tough Islamic rules.

Persepolis participated in this year’s Cannes Film Festival, despite some important Islamic groups’ opposition. The government-affiliated Iran Farabi Foundation wrote even a letter complaining to France for including Persepolis in the Cannes Film Festival’s main contest. This action determined the Iranian filmmaker and comic writer Marjane Satrapi to publicly defend her animated movie against the Iranian foundation’s protests, by asking the watchers to focus on the movie’s humanity, not on its politics.
Marjane Satrapi said that she thought “[audiences] should look at the human side of the film.” At that moment the 37-year-old director and comic writer declined any direct comment about the protest, but she did say that she accepted any criticism because doing so was a part of living in a culture where she could openly express her own point of view and opinions.

“I believe in freedom of expression and freedom of speech. […] I simply accept that as part of the exposure,” said Satrapi.

In summer, the Iran Farabi Foundation said in its letter, which was also published by several news agencies, that the movie “presented an unrealistic face of the achievements and results of the glorious Islamic Revolution in some of its parts,” although Satrapi’s movie is, obviously, very personal.

Persepolis follows Marjane Satrapi as a little girl as she watches the fall of the Shah, who was backed by western countries headed by the United States. Although her family and she herself believed that with the Shah gone everything would get better, things became even worse in fact.

When she rebels during the period of the Iran/Iraq war, she is sent to live in Austria and as she comes back for a time, things seem to be better; but eventually she finds her female individuality so stifled that she decides to fly to France.

In fact, Persepolis is a movie telling the story of a girl’s coming-of-age in a highly volatile society. Her personality is shaped by war, male cultural domination and government duplicity. Both the Iranian rulers and the western democracies are criticized by the animated movie, but this is made in a very intelligent way, as actress Catherine Deneuve said: “She deals with very serious subjects in a way that is very lighthearted and serious at the same time.”

For the North American version of Marjane Satrapi’s animated political drama, producers chose actor Sean Penn and artist Iggy Pop to lend their voice to two of the movies’ main characters. Sean Penn, for whom Persepolis will mark the first time the actor has voiced an animated character, will be the young girl’s father, who is struggling with hard life in Iran during and after the fall of the Shah from 1979. Iggy Pop will voice the girl’s politically active uncle.

Another important actress that chose to join the animated movie’s cast was Catherine Deneuve, who will voice the young girl’s mother.

Persepolis is a movie you should not miss!