Marjane Satrapi, Author of 'Persepolis', Dies at 56

Marjane Satrapi, the Franco-Iranian author and film director best known for the graphic novel and film "Persepolis", has died at the age of 56, a year after the death of her husband. "Marjane Satrapi died of sadness a little over a year after the death of Mattias Ripa, her husband and the love of her life," a member of her close circle said in a statement sent to AFP on Thursday.

From Rasht to Paris

Satrapi was born in 1969 in Rasht, in northern Iran. She arrived in France in 1994 and gained French nationality in 2006. An outspoken critic of Iran's theocratic government, she drew on her own childhood for "Persepolis", which recounts her early life in Tehran and the restrictions imposed by Iran's Islamic leadership after the 1979 revolution, before her parents sent her to Europe and she began a life in exile. French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to her as "a great artist who turned her Iranian childhood into a universal tale".

Cannes, an Oscar nomination and a tribute to Iranians

The 2007 animated adaptation of "Persepolis", co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud, won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award. "Even if this is a universal film, I want to dedicate this prize to all Iranians," Satrapi said at the time.

"Marjane was an extraordinary artist and a charming woman who embodied the joy of creation and the sorrow of exile and painful memories. We mourn her this morning," Cannes delegate general Thierry Fremaux told AFP.

Her work reached beyond Iran: she directed "Radioactive", a 2019 biopic of the pioneering researcher and Nobel laureate Marie Curie, starring Rosamund Pike. She was also a painter, exhibiting a series of canvases in 2020.

Women, Life, Freedom

Satrapi was a vocal supporter of the protests that erupted in Iran after the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died in custody after allegedly breaching the country's dress code. Satrapi curated a collection of graphic stories on the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement, published in English in 2024, and joined a protest in Paris that year marking two years since Amini's death. "It's very important that this regime disappears," she said, while stressing it could not happen overnight. "I think it's important to remain hopeful."

The foundation of jailed Nobel peace laureate Narges Mohammadi praised her as "a fearless voice for feminism, human rights, and freedom", adding that "her courage will continue to resonate far beyond her lifetime".

In early 2025 Satrapi turned down France's highest civilian honour, the Legion d'honneur, accusing the country of "hypocrisy" over visa policies that prevented dissidents from travelling from Iran to France. After her husband's death on April 8 last year she founded the Mattias and Marjane Ripa-Satrapi Cinema Foundation to support foreign students who wish to come to Paris to study filmmaking.