Marjane Satrapi, the artist, creator and director behind the Oscar-nominated Persepolis and many other works, has sadly passed away. The French-Iranian author, artist and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi has sadly passed away aged 56. Satrapi was perhaps best known for Persepolis, her autobiographical graphic novel that told the extraordinary story of her childhood in Iran; first ... In memoriam: Marjane Satrapi, author, artist and filmmaker
Marjane Satrapi, the artist, creator and director behind the Oscar-nominated Persepolis and many other works, has sadly passed away.
The French-Iranian author, artist and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi has sadly passed away aged 56. Satrapi was perhaps best known for Persepolis, her autobiographical graphic novel that told the extraordinary story of her childhood in Iran; first published in 2000, it quickly became a global best-seller.
Satrapi later adapted it herself into the 2007 film of the same name, which was also critically acclaimed, winning a Jury Prize at Cannes and a Best Animated Feature nomination at the Oscars.
The news of Satrapi’s passing was first reported by Agence France-Presse. It quotes a “member of her close circle”, per the BBC who said the filmmaker “died of sadness” in the wake of the death of her husband, the actor Mattias Ripa.
Satrapi’s career began in the 1990s, when she found some success as a children’s book author. She struggled to find a publisher for Persepolis at first, however, describing to Sothebys in 2022 that she went into a “very deep depression” when one art director told her that her work lacked style.
Her work eventually found a home at Pantheon Books, where her sprawling story, beginning in 1980s Iran and following her move to Vienna in the 1990s, was published in two volumes. Her graphic, confident visuals and spirited storytelling endeared her work to a worldwide audience, and Satrapi’s career soon took off.
Following the film adaptation’s release in 2007, continued to work as both a graphic novelist and filmmaker. Her movies include 2011’s Chicken With Plums, again adapted from her own comic (a term Satrapi always preferred) with co-director Vincent Paronnaud.
Satrapi then made a move into (relatively) mainstream black comedy territory with The Voices (2014), starring Ryan Reynolds as a serial killer haunted by his own victims. Next came Radioactive (2021) , a biopic about scientist Marie Curie, here played by Rosamund Pike, followed by the black comedy Dear Paris, released in 2004. She also continued to write a number of books, including Monsters Are Afraid Of The Moon (2006), The Sigh (2011) and Woman, Life, Freedom (2024), the latter her first comic in several years.
An outspoken opponent of Iran’s oppressive regime throughout her life, that latter work – a collection of work from other Iranian artists as well herself, was, she said, “a message to the Iranian people to say listen, you are not alone.”
Satrapi’s passing prompted an outpouring of tributes. Among them was the author Margaret Atwood, who pointed out the ongoing relevance of the artist’s work.
“The repression of ordinary women in a theocratic regime, the secret rebellions, the depression, the courage scraped up to carry on,” Atwood told The Guardian, “but I only wrote about it, while Marjane Satrapi lived it. Right now, with Iran in the midst of yet another war and control over the population intense, her work is more pertinent than ever.”
