Last night we saw the beautifully animated film Persepolis, based on the autobiographical graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi, of an Iranian girl’s coming of age during the Islamic Revolution. The film was written and directed by Satrapi and Vincent Parannaud.

Production still from “Persepolis” (2007), originally uploaded by beastandbean.

The film is touching and heart breaking. It is also hilarious, told from the perspective of an opinionated, creative, rebellious girl. The dialogue is in French, because the real life Marjane, like the Marjane in the film, has spent most of her adult life in France. And there is not a bit of disconnect between the film’s content and its language — the French language flows beautifully with the animation.

Promo stills from the French film PERSEPOLIS (2007), originally uploaded by beastandbean.

I adored how well the story melded personal struggle (as an outsider in Europe, where her parents sent her to school so she could be safe) with the larger historical struggle of what it means to be Iranian under an extremist regime (as an outsider within her own culture).

Production still from “Persepolis” (2007), originally uploaded by beastandbean.

The animation is the old school, painstaking paper and pencil method. This meant reviving the art of tracing, which had been dead in France for 20 years. Thankfully one of the masters was coaxed out of retirement and trained a young group of animators for this film.

Production still from “Persepolis” (2007), originally uploaded by beastandbean.

And even better yet, this lovely film has been nominated for an Oscar Award for Best Animated Feature, which I hope will mean that even more people will have the opportunity to enjoy it! And I’m hoping to have some time soon to read the graphic novels, which I am sure is an even richer experience.