Persepolis

It is the moving story of a young girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It is through the eyes of the precocious and outgoing nine-year-old Marjane that we see the hopes of a people shattered as fundamentalists seize power, forcing women to wear the veil and sending thousands of people to prison. Intelligent and fearless, Marjane manages to evade the ‘morality police’ and discovers punk, ABBA and Iron Maiden. But when her uncle is brutally executed and bombs begin to fall on Tehran during the Iran–Iraq War, the daily fear that pervades life in Iran becomes palpable. As she grows up, Marjane’s daring becomes a constant source of worry for her parents, who fear for her safety. So, when she is 14, they make the difficult decision to send her to a school in Austria. Vulnerable and alone in a strange land, she has to face the typical trials and tribulations of adolescence. What’s more, Marjane is mistaken for a religious fundamentalist and an extremist – precisely the things she had fled from in her own country. Over time, she eventually comes to be accepted and even finds love, but as secondary school draws to a close, she begins to feel lonely and homesick. Although this meant having to wear the hijab and live in a tyrannical society, Marjane decided to return to Iran to be closer to her family. After a difficult period of adjustment, she enrolled at an arts school and got married, though she continued to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnessed. At the age of 24, she realises that, despite being deeply Iranian, she cannot continue to live in Iran. It is then that she takes the heart-wrenching decision to leave her homeland for France, full of optimism for the future, yet indelibly shaped by her past.