Customer Reviews

Persepolis

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A couple of weeks ago I had the joy of seeing the Oscar nominated film PERSEPOLIS which is based on the life of author Marjane Satrapi. The film was both poignant (without becoming emotionally manipulative) and humorous. Other than the excellent writing, the French film score by Oliver Bernet was the other reason I loved the film. The music is definitely more Parisian than Persian or Middle Eastern. The instruments used on the soundtrack ranges from the cello to the zarb. The score captures all of the emotions that Marjane experiences as both a child and as an adult from joy to sorrow. Olivier's music never gets heavy handed and bombastic like his western peers have a terrible habit of doing with their music. His music never detracts or overwhelms the film. Most of the songs are instrumentals but there is one song with vocals. It is the hilarious but surprisingly good cover of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" by Chiara Mastroianni (who voices Marjane in the film). I was surprised this not the horrible version I heard in the film (which I am guessing was sung by Marjane herself or maybe Chiara purposely singing off-key). Chiara has a nice, whispery voice. The music itself is a far cry from the bombastic guitar driven sounds of the original version but rather this light, airy acoustic track. There isn't anything bad I can say about the soundtrack to my new favorite film. I am currently reading the complete version of PERSEPOLIS so listening to the soundtrack while reading the book brings back fond memories of seeing the film.

When I was originally assigned to read Persepolis 1 (the movie is books 1 and 2), for a COLLEGE women's literature class I was originally put off by the graphic novel format of the books. After reading the story though, I found that the biography was very compelling. Though more detail could have been given if it had been a regular text only biography, it was still an outstanding story that gave me more insight into the people of Iran and the Muslim people...often a much more positive view than we usually see in the Western Media.

The movie is faithful to the books. I would highly recommend both the movie and the books. The movie is in English but they also have English subtitles that do not always match the English spoken. Other than that little distraction (which at times is humorous), it is a great movie.

I had never heard Persepolis until my daughter asked that I purchase it for her for Christmas. It is great music...very out of the ordinary. I have listened to it so many times! I didn't give it to my daughter. I kept is for myself. I said Santa brought it!