LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Iranian French graphic artist Marjane Satrapi has died at the age of 56 in Paris. Her death was confirmed by the French presidency which called Satrapi an artist in love with liberty, whose works were imbued with a universal message. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley has this remembrance.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Satrapi's first graphic novel, "Persepolis," published in the year 2000, sold millions of copies and was translated into dozens of languages. "Persepolis" tells the story - Satrapi's story - of a rebellious young girl and her family at the time of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, as the repressive regime of the Shah of Iran gives way to the initial hope and fervor of the return to Iran of the Ayatollah Khomeini who is living in exile in France.
"Persepolis" explored how Iran then changes under the growing fanaticism of the fundamentalist regime.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PERSEPOLIS")
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: In 2007, "Persepolis" was turned into an award-winning movie, taking a top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Satrapi went on to write other novels and films, but the success and controversy of "Persepolis" meant that she would never be able to return to her homeland. Satrapi was an outspoken supporter of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement that began in 2022 when a young Iranian woman was killed at the hands of the morality police for not wearing her hijab properly.
Her death set off an uproar with young women burning their veils and soon joined by young men. Satrapi told NPR in 2024 that she had great hope that the young people's courage would lead to the collapse of the regime.
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MARJANE SATRAPI: It's such a courage and this is why I believe that this revolution, sooner or later, is going to give its result.
BEARDSLEY: She had not spoken publicly about recent events in Iran, the uprising at the beginning of the year, and the war with the U.S. and Israel that has further empowered the IRGC. One of Satrapi's close friends told Le Monde newspaper that she died of heartbreak after the death of her husband, Mattias Ripa, an actor and screenwriter. At the time Satrapi wrote on Instagram, I lost the love of my life.
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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