Movie title: PersepolisDirectors: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane SatrapiVoice actors: Chiara MastroianniProduction company: 2.4.7. Films

Genuine, unpretentious and lacking the preachy life lessons that riddle most coming of age tales, the black and white French film Persepolis will be one of the most colorful, poignant and all-at-once heartbreaking and humorous films you will see in your lifetime.

Persepolis is the latest in a rush of graphic-novel-to-film adaptations to hit the big screen. Most adaptations such as 300, Sin City and V for Vendetta have chosen to venture into stylistic live-action interpretations. But co-director Vincent Paronnaud and his partner, the author and artist of the original graphic novel, Marjane Satrapi, have created something unique here, choosing the animation route and maintaining an exuberant loyalty to the spirit of Satrapi’s work.

The film adaptation encompasses both volumes of Satrapi’s graphic novel of the same title, and escorts us through the life and maturation of her autobiographical protagonist.

The movie begins with Satrapi’s childhood in Iran, in the midst of the Islamic Revolution, and extends to her junior high years before her parents send her away to Austria to escape political oppression, and for the fear of her safety after the next door neighbor’s house has been bombed.

From there we travel with her to Austria, as she grows into a young lady, curves and all, and as she explores the notion of freedom with her punk rock, Nihilist friends. She soon realizes, after her friends have graduated, returned home and left her alone in the city of Vienna, that freedom means nothing without the people who love you. When she reminisces about love and freedom, she recalls the comfort of her grandmother and the flowery scent of her bosom.

Yes, bosom. In America, we tend to grow squeamish at such intimacies, but this is a French film. Regardless of our own biases, the image is a triumph of storytelling; an eloquent verse of Satrapi’s. The scene is one of many memorable, cultural juxtapositions that might stir the moral grounds of an American (I speak from my own awakenings as I learned about Satrapi’s life), but it, like the rest of the story, is masterfully poignant because it is meticulously personal.

Young Marjane’s conversations with God are another example, in which she asks the questions we all ask about war and fairness in the world.

The personal nuances are the heart of Marjane’s tale, but filled in between are some delightful bits of propaganda and storytelling where characters speak in exaggerated accents and flop about the screen like marionette puppets, contrasting the rest of the film’s fluid animation. The theatrical bits educate Marjane’s character and the audience about the history of Iran and the context of the author’s childhood in war-torn Teheran.

This is where Satrapi’s story sets itself apart. Most war-related stories take sides and offer ideal resolutions, but Satrapi’s tale is honest, frail and ambivalent. The irony is in the black and white palette of the film. Justice and injustice are blurred as Satrapi endures her own naivety and sense of righteousness, sometimes resulting in flawed decisions of consequence. The vulnerability revealed is heartbreaking, and you can’t help but identify with her, because we’ve all said and done things we regret. She’s not perfect, but she’s learning, and so are we.

Persepolis‘s story deserves much distinction, but the movie is so much more. The animation and the soundtrack inject a majestic, mesmerizing vitality into the gothic color scheme. It is vibrant and evocative, and for you Harry Potter fans out there, it is so fluid it conjures the illusion of drifting into a pensieve. There are some somber moments, but for the most part, the film escapes its two-tone cavern into a world of brilliant demeanor.

The only downside to Persepolis is that the film has not been dubbed for American audience. Trust me; this is a minor, minor downside. Persepolis is a symphony of the senses.

The flowing phonetics of the French language, the dream-like animation and soundtrack, and the near and dear story of growing up and realizing the world doesn’t always work out the way you want it to, make this one of the movies everyone needs to see and pass on to the next person.