By
Darius KADIVAR
photocomposition ©DK
Payvand.com - After the
International critical and Box Office Success of Persepolis, Marjane
Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud are to join their talents on a next movie project:
The screen adaptation of another of Satrapi's comic books "Poulet Aux Prunes"
aka "Chicken With Plums".
Satrapi's who was quite recently one of the jury
members of the
Cannes International Film Festival
headed
by actor/director Sean Penn has
been in the spotlight of the movie press both in France where she lives and
works as well as internationally given the remarkable achievement of her comic
books and her bio epic animation Persepolis.
PLOT:
"In her new
cartoon novel, "Chicken with Plums," the Iranian artist Marjane Satrapi tells
the story of her uncle. It's a melancholy parable of love and suffering,
portrayed in remarkable pictures.
The book isn't
so much an introduction to the pleasures of Iranian cuisine as an introduction
to the world of the author's uncle, Nasser Ali Khan, a man who simply couldn't
live without his love for music and, more especially, without his passion for
the Iranian stringed instrument, the tar.
Satrapi's story begins in Tehran on an autumn day in
1958. That's the day on which the famous Iranian tar virtuoso Nasser Ali has an
argument with his wife which is to have major consequences. She accuses him of
showing more interest in his music and his instrument than in his duties towards
his family and his domestic responsibilities. Nasser Ali's music is worthless,
and it doesn't bring any money in, she says repeatedly and cold-heartedly. In
the end, in a fit of anger, she smashes the tar, Nasser Ali's most beloved
possession.
That is the
beginning of the end.
Nasser Ali goes out in search of a new instrument,
but there is none to be found. No tar is as good as his old one. So Nasser Ali
submits to his fate; he's so unhappy that he decides not to eat anything any
more. He just wants to die. Even his favorite meal, a traditional Persian dish,
chicken with plums, can't get him to change his mind ..."
The Comic book
had earned the award for Best Comic Book at the International Angouleme Festival
of Comic Books in 2005. The screen Adaptation however will this time be a
Live Action shot with Actors and no more an animated film. A first time
experience for the duo directors even if working with actors was also necessary
for their previous film Persepolis where the drawings were only done after
recording the voices of the major characters played by French Stars: Catherine
Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni, Simon Akbarian and Danielle Darrieux.
We wish the
two directors the same critical and box office success on this new movie
endeavor.
VIVE LE
CINEMA !
&
Chicken With
Plums ! ;0)
Authors
Notes:
The comic book Chicken with Plums is available on
amazon.com
Recommended Reading:
Satrapi Joins Jury of Cannes 2008
by Darius KADIVAR
MAGIC IN THE MAKING: Marjane
Satrapi's Cinephilic Choice for Persepolis Cast
By Darius KADIVAR
THE EYE OF THE TIGER
by Darius KADIVAR
About the Author:
Darius KADIVAR is a Freelance Journalist, Film Historian, and Media Consultant.
He is also contributes to
OCPC Magazine
in LA/US and to the
London
Based IC Publications
The Middle East Magazine
and
Persian Heritage Magazine.
... Payvand News - 05/01/08 ... --
