Jury Prize winner from Cannes, this clean yet unfussy animated film tells the real-life story of writer and co-director Marjane Satrapi's adventures in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, and subsequent coming-of-age attending school in Europe. Based on her semi-autobiographical series of graphic novels, Persepolis (co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud) successfully deals with growing up in extremely difficult circumstances that is fairly accessible for those with no prior knowledge of Iranian history.

The characters in are simple, friendly black-and-white line drawings, as uncomplicated as characters in a children's book. Which is precisely what throws you off when they get incarcerated, oppressed or even assassinated. Marjane (Gabrielle Lopes) - is a precocious, Bruce Lee-loving 9-year-old girl who has clashes with her teachers and the country's morality police. She shows signs of being too outspoken for her own good.

For a film so proudly Charlie Brown cartoonish, there are moments of dazzling artistry.

Her parents therefore decide to send her to Europe for her own protection. There, Marjane becomes a rebellious adolescent, relishing the freedoms but also having to cope with a life in exile. She eventually goes on to discover love, and ultimately has her heart broken, winding up on the streets (and violently assaulted).

Their household is hopeful when the oppressive regime of the Shah is brought down by a popular uprising, but when the Islamic government is voted into power, a conservative backlash seizes the country. Her uncle Anoush (Francois Jerosme), who had returned to Iran after defecting the U.S.S.R., is arrested in a revolutionary purge. Marjane then struggles to maintain her love for heavy-metal and punk rock as she and others are forced to "take the veil" and submit to religious strictures. She returns to Tehran, suffers and learns more; by 23 she’s off to France, where she lives to this day.

While Satrapi's story is a timely glimpse of life in Iran before, during and after the 1979 revolution that ended the reign of the Shah, it’s also concerned with the state of exile, a condition that, as evidenced by Marjane's teenage attempts at trying to blend into various social scenes (nihilistic punk, disco, hippie).

In the latter quarter, the story struggles to regain its original humour and tries to cover too much ground, but most affecting is the relationship between Satrapi (voiced by Mastroianni) and her grandmother. The film features the voices of three of France's best-known actresses: Chiara Mastroianni as Marjane; Mastroianni's real-life mother, Catherine Deneuve, as Marjane's mom; and Danielle Darrieux as her grandmother. For a mostly in black-and-white animation, there are moments of dazzling artistry. Come Oscar time, the story of the year’s best teenage heroine is almost certainly going to be this year's hero animation film.