Pool aux prunes (2011)

Directed by: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud | 91 minutes | drama, comedy | Actors: Mathieu Amalric, Edouard Baer, ​​Maria de Medeiros, Golshifteh Farahani, Eric Caravaca, Chiara Mastroianni, Mathis Bour, Enna Balland, Didier Flamand, Serge Avedikian, Rona Hartner, Jamel Debbouze, Isabella Rossellini, Frédéric Saurel, Christian Friedel, Julia Goldstern Julia Camps y Salat, Jaouen Gouevic, Timothé Riquet, Angus Boulaire

In 2008, Marjane Satrapi, together with Vincent Paronnaud, received an Oscar nomination for best animated film, ‘Persepolis’. This film was based on her graphic novel, more or less her own coming-of-age story, and the quirky animated film captured the hearts of many film lovers.

The duo has ‘Persepolis’ followed by the ingenious ‘Poulet aux prunes’, not an animation but a live action film, although ‘Poulet aux prunes’ does contain a minute-long, beautiful animation scene (and the opening sequence is also animated). But once again, humor with great melodrama is interwoven in a fairytale-like story, which also begins as such. “Yeki bid, yeki imitated,” as Persian fairy tales always start (“Once upon a time there was someone, once there was no one”).

‘Poulet aux prunes’ is about the fictional, world-famous violinist Nasser Ali (Mathieu Amalric), who one day decides that his time has come. In a humorous sequence, his options are examined: lying on the train tracks, romantically jumping off a mountain, or just an overdose of sleeping pills with a plastic bag over his head? When Nasser Ali realizes that he would rather not be found dead in such an ugly way, he resolves to just lie in bed and wait for Azrael, the angel of death, to come get him. As depressing as this may sound, ‘Poulet aux prunes’ is anything but that. The film has much more of ‘Amélie’ than of ‘Lilya 4-ever’.

In the following seven days, Nasser-Ali looks back on his life and therefore gradually informs the viewer in a non-chronological way of how it could have come to this. And that’s a story worth telling. We also occasionally get a preview: what will happen to Nasser Ali’s children when they grow up? A very beautiful fragment is the one in which Chiara Mastroianni, who plays the role of the adult daughter of Nasser Ali, sits in a convertible next to her beloved. The future of son Cyrus is shown in a satirical way, with a nice touch underwater at Americans (or Westerners in general perhaps) and their consumerism. For example, Satrapi and Paronnaud tell the entire life story of Nasser-Ali in just ninety minutes, with beautifully inventive scenes, sometimes for minutes without dialogue, but always touching the viewer where it matters.

The actors are superb. Amalric is fantastic in the lead role, his emotions are extremely believable, but he is also 100% convincing in the humorous scenes. Maria de Medeiros has the difficult role of Nasser Ali’s wife Faringuisse, who projects her shortcomings onto her children and husband. But at the same time she manages to win the viewer’s sympathy. Finally, there is a beautiful key role for Golshifteh Farahani, an actress we hope to see many more of. While the story that ‘Poulet aux prunes’ may be simple, its visual creation hits the mark.