Persepolis
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: December 25, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
90
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
NewsweekDavid Ansen
It's not to be missed in any language. In a year that has given us such marvelous animated movies as "Ratatouille" and "Paprika," this vibrant, sly and moving personal odyssey takes pride of place. Read full review
100
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Cinematic poetry in black and white. It also is a deeply affecting tale of the power of resilience and an unflagging sense of humor through the worst of situations Read full review
100
SlateDana Stevens
A completely different kind of animated movie that, even more than "Ratatouille," reimagines what the medium can do. Read full review
100
PremiereGlenn Kenny
While avoiding specious bromides about universality, Persepolis insists on communicating with its audience, and insists that communication and empathy are the keys to our survival. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The movie sparkles with witty self-awareness. Read full review
100
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
If "Ratatouille" taught the world that rats have feelings too, Persepolis teaches the same thing about the people of Iran, who in the current political climate are probably in greater danger of being eradicated. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
While so many films about coming of age involve manufactured dilemmas, here is one about a woman who indeed does come of age, and magnificently. Read full review
100
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Persepolis, the superb film based on Satrapi's graphic memoirs of the same name, is a riveting odyssey in pictures and words. It's unlike any journal you've read or any animated movie you've seen. Read full review
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Fascinating memoir of coming of age in Iran. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
The two main points Persepolis makes are that strife is relative, and all politics are personal. Read full review
91
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
In a stroke of voice-casting genius, the voices of Marjane and her mother are provided by real-life mother and daughter Chiara Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve, respectively, both of whom bring heft and measured emotion to the characters. Read full review
90
VarietyLisa Nesselson
This autobiographical tour de force is completely accessible and art of a very high order. Read full review
90
Village VoiceNick Pinkerton
Persepolis is a small landmark in feature animation. Not because of technical innovation--though it moves fluidly enough, and its drawings have a handcrafted charm forgotten in the era of the cross-promoted-to-saturation CGI-'toon juggernauts--but because it translates a sensitive, introspective, true-to-life, "adult" comic story into moving pictures. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The filmmakers were right to believe that a live-action version of this story would have failed to achieve the universality Persepolis does. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Persepolis, austere as it may look, is full of warmth and surprise, alive with humor and a fierce independence of spirit. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
A dazzlingly smart and entertaining animated feature by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, looks like a black-and-white graphic novel come to life. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Satrapi’s parents ship her off to a French school in Vienna, but she’s rudderless, ungrounded. She’s drawn back to a devastated Tehran, where she can’t design a life, either. This great film, by Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, is that life, designed. It freed her mind; it frees ours. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Though you might have a hard time discussing some of the film’s verbal descriptions of torture with young ones, Persepolis will prove a worthwhile movie for thoughtful teens. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The black-and-white animation won't dazzle your eyes, but everything else about Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's adaptation of Satrapi's graphic comic book series Persepolis will hold you in its thrall. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The French-language voice cast is first-rate, although the film will also be released in the U.S. in an English-language version featuring Sean Penn, Iggy Pop and Gena Rowlands in addition to Deneuve and Mastroianni. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Persepolis is as modern as tomorrow's headlines and as classic as an ancient myth. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
They're both tales of growing up in the shadow of Islamic fundamentalism, but Persepolis is everything "The Kite Runner" is not. It's a personal memoir rather than fiction, coolly observant instead of melodramatic, female rather than male in sensibility and sense of humor - it has a sense of humor. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneTasha Robinson
Without significantly changing the books’ content, they bring in a wealth of emotional tones--particularly a playful, wry humor. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
You can learn about the grand shifts of history from Persepolis, but you learn about a handful of lives as well. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
A familiar story set in an unfamiliar context, it's a paean to the universality of human experience, a testament to the endurance of individuality during great political and fanatical upheaval, and a reminder that even the most complex situations, identities and stories are heartbreakingly simple. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The movie, while no fun, faces hard truths and asks hard questions. Read full review
80
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
The combination of pen, ink and geopolitical strife have yet to yield anything quite like it. Read full review
80
EmpireHelen O'Hara
The monochrome animation is stark and beautiful, and Marjane’s an appealing narrator. Often hilarious, sometimes tragic, this may be low-tech, but it’s high-class. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
It is a vivid, at times heartbreaking, portrait of a life and a nation in crisis. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
It's striking how much emotion Satrapi is able to convey through blocky drawings. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
There is no denying the boldness of Persepolis, both in design and in moral complaint, but there must surely be moments, in Marjane’s life as in ours, that cry out for cross-hatching and the grown-up grayness of doubt. Read full review
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