“A striking animated production, made in France but rooted in Iran. Its origins lie in two graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi, who has co-directed the movie version with Vincent Paronnaud. She is plainly the source for her heroine, also named Marjane, who is born in Tehran during the Shah's regime and grows up to witness the revolution of 1979; the mood, at first exultant, is soon darkened by a new sense of repression and threat. Marjane is an instinctive foe of the system, though her idea of rebellion is to listen to Iron Maiden in her bedroom, and a period spent as a student in Vienna ends in frustration and woe. Most of the film is in black-and-white, with sharply clipped and unshaded images; there is no denying their clarity and wit.”