Seen Persepolis

Seen Persepolis, an animation movie.
Great film.
The story of Iran seen through the eyes of a growing lady of drawing, from her childhood to the early twenties. This film/bande dessinée is all the more touching that it is an autobiography.
Some passages may sound sometimes like a history lesson (and that was being underlined by one of my friends, a teacher herself) but still, they need to figure out in the movie, as we often tend to know more about the Iraqi side from our history books.
The characters’ voices have been embodied by Chiara Maestroiani, Catherine Deneuve and Daniele Darrieu. They’re all great.
As my animation education, so to say, comes from the Japanese animation world (I am a half Japanese, for those who did not know), it was quite of a challenge to watch a black and white animation at first sight. Anyway, black and white also manages to communicate emotions. I believed it would sound too manichean at the beginning, I was wrong. Black and white also enables to express nuances, as well as to have a stance, and make choices when it comes to define the message that has to be delivered.
I loved the grandmother’s character in the movie, so cute, so smart. We loved the way she takes care about her boobs. Hold on, she puts some jasmine flowers in her bra to smell good, and put the boobs in cold water, ten minutes everyday to keep them firm.
They are indeed a few very touching moments in the film, prone to make one consume tissues, but the film’s purpose is not that actually. It let us oscillate between laughter, tears, and reflexion. A balanced compromise.
To put it in a nutshell: go and see it.
More details on www.myspace/persepolislefilm