Set in Tehran in 1958 (when the Shah was on the throne of what was still known as Persia) Nasser Ali Khan an obsessive and brilliant musician is driven to suicidal despair when his wife smashes up his irreplaceable violin in a fit of (justified) pique. He very melodramatically takes to his bed for 8 days announcing that he is just waiting to die. We know that he’s going to get his wish as the story is narrated by Azrael, The Angel of Death.
Nasser Ali had known happier times when as a young man studying at the Conservatory he fell in love with a stunning beauty called Iran, but her father refused to allow her to marry a penniless musician. He took himself off around the world and when he finally returned home at the age of 41, his mother insisted he marry Faringuisse, who had always carried a torch for him even though he never could love her.
It is however Iran’s face that haunts poor Nasser Ali the rest of his life especially in all the extravagant fantasy sequences he imagines as Azrael finally steps up the heat and is about to come claim him at last.
This rather wonderful movie of comic book artist Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel is part of her trilogy of Iranian Stories. The first and more personal one ‘Persepolis’ which she also adapted and co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud won her an Oscar Nomination. This time instead of animation, the couple have used live action (with the occasional animated backdrop) and the Tehran that they re-created on a Berlin Sound stage is delightfully old-fashioned, intimate and trouble free city (for a change).
As it is all about melancholy and loss (although it does some wonderful comic scenes too) then they could not have cast anyone better suited to play Nasser Ali than the dour looking Mathieu Amalric. This prolific French actor is always such a joy to watch and I will never ever forget him as the paralysed Jean-Dominque in ‘The Diving Bell and The Butterfly’. His mother was played by Isabella Rossellini, but I could have sworn it was in fact Ingrid Bergman.
Not quite profound as ‘Persopolis’, it is a grand, romantic life story about love, loss and regret that with the combination of its very stylized production and some rather superb acting, makes for an enjoyable (sad) movie.
★★★★★★★★
