Before watching this knockout of a film, I knew next to nothing about the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. I still know next to nothing, but the door has been opened - and I’m holding it open for you now.
As always, I strongly recommend watching the film first, and joining in with our conversation.
P.S. - I’m finally on Letterboxd. Link up!
Title, release date: Persepolis, 2007
Directed by: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud
Starring: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Simon Abkarian
Chosen by: Natoli
Synopsis: A precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.
Our synopsis: N/A
The conversation
P: I loved it, I thought it was great. I love that it is just a person's story. Nothing completely insane happens. Marjane lives her life as best she can, her family is alive, no one dies a dramatic death. It's just a family within a certain historical context. The film shows us that life goes on during times of huge social and political upheaval1, that these things happen to ordinary people and there’s not necessarily some kind of a giant, heroic thing going on. I think, also visually, it's so cool. I'm surprised that I didn't get bored by the visuals at all. Even though they're so…
N: Simple?
P: Simple! But then, they're not simple. There's so much movement, and creativity with all the transitions. And I love all the different references, like The Scream, and The Little Prince, and Marx2... And it made me cry, evidently [wipes face].
N: Yeah, even I actually, I shed a tear.
P: Did you?
N: Yeah, when you cried as well. When [Marjane] leaves to Austria, and the grandma is telling her about integrity and giving her advice.
“…moral justice, religion and mores, fundamentals, are what unites the people most, especially in a completely crumbled society.”
P: It's so timeless. It's just a story about how quickly things can change and how quickly the world around you could change, how everything that you know or remember to be true isn't there anymore. And it might be completely arbitrary and people just have to keep living their lives. It did a really good job of showing how people try to find little freedoms in really difficult situations and just keep going.
Honestly, it’s kind of scary as well. I've luckily never been in a situation, touch wood, where a man has been allowed to tell me, you know -
N: “ Don't run in the street, don’t show your hair”.
P: Yeah. I sometimes forget that there are still so many places in the world where men are still allowed to tell women what to do3. I can't even imagine.
N: Every place has men who tell women what to do.
P: Yeah. And obviously this is a massive extrapolation or whatever - but it’s also terrifying to see the slip back towards open misogyny in our own society. I can't even imagine the rage that some of these women must feel in situations like that, where you know that you're right and that these people have no right to tell you what to do, but you just have to suck it up because you're in danger if you don't, you know? And you don't want to leave because it's your home but you can't really live your life there.
“We don't see as much of, you know, the small daily rebellions that go on, people just living their lives, trying to make space for their interests”
The film also did such a good job of humanising Iranian citizens. I think in the eyes of the Western world, in a really fucked up way, this outward projection of a really religious, dogmatic place has taken precedent, within Iran’s own borders but also to the West. In a way, many of us just believe the Iranian regime’s message about what kind of a nation they are. We don't see as much of, you know, the small daily rebellions that go on, people just living their lives, trying to make space for their interests, because it would be dangerous for them to show it. So probably a lot of us assume that these little moments of rebellion are not happening, which just perpetuates the same message.
N: I’m glad you enjoyed it. Your mum should watch it, if she hasn’t. It’s so educational. The first time I watched it, you know, I had no idea. It's just - it's a piece of history. It tells you so much about someone's life, but also about a whole country for the last 50 years.
P: The only thing that it was missing for me was a little bit more context about who exactly was responsible for which regime?
N: Well, they do explain that, As soon as the Shah was taken down, it was an unstable political movement, just the same way France had had it after the French Revolution. When terror emerged everybody got their heads chopped off. Every time you have a revolution, you basically have another tyrant.
P: It's a vacuum.
N: You have another tyrant in place. They say that moral justice, religion, and mores, fundamentals, are what unites the people most, especially in a completely crumbled society. This is how 99. 9 percent of the people decided to vote. The film also explains that half of the country, if not more, was illiterate.
P: I just think it would've been good to have just a little bit more context about who was enforcing these religious rules.
N: I get what you mean, but this is where I have to say: this is where you do your research as well. The film takes you to go out there, to learn more. That's also something important, is that a film doesn't give you all the keys. It's for you to, once you're interested, go out there. You learn about the country, you learn about the politics, and you figure it out. You educate yourself on the situation. No, I don't even think it was lazy -
P: I didn't say it was lazy.
N: I'm just saying - the film gives you enough to understand how the plot shifts from one end to another. And then you realise: who they were really doesn't matter. It's more like what they did. Who they were is just men with tiny, tiny dicks and a huge, huge ego who hate women.
P: I guess, that's probably sort of the point then. It's just living history from the perspective of one family. And a little girl. And that for her it probably wasn't important who they were, it was like what they were doing. But yeah, I think it does basically everything a film can do.
In three words
P: Beautiful, educational, gripping. 5/5.
N: Very fucking important. 4.8/5
In this case the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.
I’m assuming he doesn’t need a hyperlink.
Reading this comment back, this is such an obtuse observation. Somehow, before watching this film, I went 24 years cognitively understanding that straight-up patriarchy exists (duh) but very luckily not understanding how it actually might feel.