Unable to find a suitable substitute for his invaluable instrument Nasser Ali decides there's only one thing left to do: Die. Nasser Ali Khan (Mathieu Amalric) is a famous Iranian violinist whose life takes a dark turn after his violin is destroyed. The subject matter is kind of depressing, but plenty of visual sugar (along with some emotional heft) helps the medicine go down smoothly. Overall, CHICKEN WITH PLUMS is a delightful cinematic confection from Marjane Satrapi about her native Iran. That being said, though, I was quite pleased with the end result and emotionally invested the whole way. My only real issues with the film are that the supporting characters are mostly sidelined and/or underwritten, and the narrative structure lends itself to being a little episodic at times.

She also takes some potshots at America that I thought were slightly uncalled for, although no less funny in the context of the film. The film takes place in the 1950's and references are made visually and through dialogue to indicate that Marjane Satrapi is making commentary on this particular period of Iranian history. However, with a character named 'Iran,' I also think that there is a subtle political allegory as well. First, there is the surface story which is about losing hope and one's raison d'etre. Thematically, I think the film works on a couple of levels. Ultimately, by the end of the film you understand why Nasser has chosen to just give up (although I don't condone suicide). Matthieu Amalric does a standup job as Nasser Ali, bringing a certain world-weariness to his character as well as youthful optimism in the flashback scenes.

The film feels like a fairy tale at times, with a sense of whimsy and free-flowing creativity that flies in the face of rather depressing subject matter. From a visual standpoint, it continues from the same place that PERSEPOLIS came from, while imbuing it with lots of color and fantastic elements. I don't really want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that the end result is rather poetic and touching. The central character, Nasser Ali (Matthieu Amalric), does indeed lose his precious violin, but its significance is revealed is multiple flashback sequences which give him background, motivation and depth. That might sound odd, but of course it is a gross oversimplification of what goes on in CHICKEN WITH PLUMS. From the creators of PERSEPOLIS comes the tale of a man who loses all hope and decides to die after his favorite violin is destroyed.

Chicken with plums graphic novel