Chicken With Plums/Poulet aux prunes Director: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Maria de Medeiros, Golshifteh Farahani, Chiara Mastroianni Released: 2011 Country: France and Germany Language: French Based on: Poulet aux prunes Author/Creator: Marjane Satrapi Country: France Language: French Published: 2004 Setting: Tehran, Iran |
Chicken With Plums/Poulet aux prunes is a graphic novel created by Iranian director and novelist Marjane Satrapi (creator of Persepolis). The graphic novel follows themes of suicide, depression, love of art and music, loss of love, social mobility, women's roles, and the desire to leave behind a legacy.
Nasser Ali Khan is a musician who loves to play the violin and embarks on a journey around Iran. He falls in love with Irane, the daughter of an antique shop owner. When Nasser Ali asks her father for their blessing to get married, the father refuses. Iran is not allowed to marry Nasser Ali due to his social class and his career as a musician, which is seen as unstable. Nasser Ali is forced to marry Faranguisse. Nasser Ali's music instructor gives him a special violin and tells Nasser Ali that the loss of love and the memory of Irane will eternally live in every note he plays. The violin is the only thing that keeps Nasser Ali sane. One day Faranguisse has had enough of her husbands constant playing and lack of attention or affection for his family and so she destroys his violin. This is when Nasser Ali decides that he is to die since no violin will ever compare. He decides he will wait for death.
Nasser Ali Khan is a musician who loves to play the violin and embarks on a journey around Iran. He falls in love with Irane, the daughter of an antique shop owner. When Nasser Ali asks her father for their blessing to get married, the father refuses. Iran is not allowed to marry Nasser Ali due to his social class and his career as a musician, which is seen as unstable. Nasser Ali is forced to marry Faranguisse. Nasser Ali's music instructor gives him a special violin and tells Nasser Ali that the loss of love and the memory of Irane will eternally live in every note he plays. The violin is the only thing that keeps Nasser Ali sane. One day Faranguisse has had enough of her husbands constant playing and lack of attention or affection for his family and so she destroys his violin. This is when Nasser Ali decides that he is to die since no violin will ever compare. He decides he will wait for death.
The film starts out with dark blues, black undertones, and white clouds. This sets up the melancholic yet whimsical quality of the film. The first scene is a scene where Nasser Ali is buying a new violin. The importance of the quality of the violin is show cased through the various shots of Nasser Ali's expression as he buys violins yet still feels as though no violin compares.
The film jumps around from past, present, and future through the use of flashbacks and flash forwards. The flash forwards show us what happens to Nasser Ali's children when they are older and also show the fated death of Nasser Ali as he has decided to die. The theme of fate is shown in the scene where Nasser Ali encounters the angel of death Azrael. This figure has black wings and all that is seen is a mouth and eyes. He sees Nasser's future and tells him it is too late to change his mind. He will die in eight days. |
Nasser Ali contemplates several ways to die but since they are all too painful and embarrassing he decides to lay in bed an await death like a dignified person. The film takes us through a magical, melancholic yet humorous journey through Nasser ALi's life and lack of hope. Nasser Ali's decision to die shows his depression due to being a product of his social condition and lack of social mobility in Iran. His ambition to be a great musician and to leave behind a legacy is cut short when the love of his life is taken from him. He no longer believes that life is worthwhile, he can't even play the violin without being reminded of Irane. The themes surrounding life and death are found in scenes depicting smoke and winds which symbolize destiny and one's soul. Smoke from cigarettes or opium are depicted throughout the film as souls and a part of one's identity. Nasser Ali constantly smokes and each breath leaves him, he is no longer breathing in the breath of life or the sigh of life he is determined to die.