For 25 years, she has enjoyed success with the French public for her comic strips and their film adaptations. The artist Marjane Satrapi, Iranian by birth and holder of dual Franco-Iranian nationality, refused the Legion of Honor which was to be awarded to her this month. She announced the reason this Monday, January 13, first by publishing on Instagram her letter addressed to the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, then by supplementing her remarks with a video.
Her gesture is a “mark of solidarity with Iranians, especially with women”, she explains, and expresses her incomprehension of France’s policy towards Iran. She denounces “a hypocritical attitude” of the State and mentions, among other things, the difficulty for Iranians to obtain visas in France, which she considers to be the homeland “which forged the other part of my identity”. “I would like to emphasize that my refusal is in no way an act of contempt towards this institution or the values it embodies,” adds the 55-year-old author and director.
“Persepolis” propels her as one of the most read French-speaking authors
Born in 1969 in the Iranian town of Racht, into a communist sympathizing family, Marjane Satrapi spent her childhood in Iran, before being sent by her parents to an Austrian high school at 14 years old. She then returned home to obtain a diploma from the Tehran School of Fine Arts at the end of the 1980s. Then, in 1994, she moved to France, starting in Strasbourg.
But it is at the Atelier des Vosges in Paris that it reveals itself; within the collective of cartoonists, among whom we already find Joann Sfar and Christophe Blain, she immerses herself in the world of comics. From 2000 to 2003, the four volumes of his first great success followed: the comic strip “Persepolis”. Drawn in black and white, the story traces his own childhood in Tehran during the Islamic revolution, then his break with his native country which includes his exile in Europe.
“Persepolis” is banned in Iran for its criticism of the regime, but its sales explode in France, while Marjane Satrapi wins international awards. She continued her momentum with new successful comic strips: “Embroidery” in 2003 and “Poulet aux Plums” in 2004. The first featured the unvarnished discussions of Iranian women around love, fidelity or marriage. The second, awarded in Angoulême, follows an Iranian musician from the 1950s who has been desperate since his wife broke his tar (an oriental lute). After two new triumphs, Marjane Satrapi decides to turn the page on comics.
Comic strips on the big screen
Naturalized French in 2006, Marjane Satrapi began a career as a director, first adapting “Persepolis”. The film was selected at Cannes in 2007, so Iran sent a letter to the French embassy in Tehran to proclaim its disapproval, because the film depicted “an unreal picture of the consequences and successes of the Islamic revolution”. Despite the controversy, “Persepolis” received the Jury Prize and two Césars.
In 2010, it was the turn of “Poulet aux Prunes” to be adapted for the cinema, before being broadcast at the Venice Film Festival the following year. Marjane Satrapi plays in “Les beaux gosses” by Riad Sattouf then directs films with very different genres, such as “The Voices”, a horror comedy where a psychotic man (Ryan Reynolds) hears his dog and his cat talking to him, and in 2019 , “Radioactive”, a biopic on Pierre and Marie Curie.
In addition to the big screen, she is also a painter and makes women her favorite theme. Which does not prevent him from presenting a tapestry for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
His commitment to the situation in Iran
The Franco-Iranian artist is also known for her positions. Beyond denouncing religious dictatorship in her works, in 2016 she signed the manifesto of the Republican Spring, a controversial association which promotes secularism, but is regularly accused of playing into the hands of the far right.
The following year, Marjane Satrapi took part in a meeting in support of Emmanuel Macron, presidential candidate. She regularly rants about the situation in Iran, such as in 2022, when she calls on European leaders to take sanctions in the face of the ongoing repression in her native country. At the time, she already denounced “the silence of the EU”. A position consistent with her current anger at Franco-Iranian relations, after the State promoted her to Knight of the Legion of Honor in July 2024.
