《茉莉人生》改編自瑪贊(Marjane Satrapi)的圖畫小說。作者馬贊透過她自己的故事，引發人們關注一些嚴肅議題，而她的成長故事既感人又奇特。電影版的《茉莉人生》有別於傳統的表現形式，讓它看起來又更為真實。
Persepolis is based on the original graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi. Marjane talks about serious issues through her true stories, and her accout of her youth is quite moving and marvelous. The movie version isn’t cast or acted conventionally, so it looks more real.
瑪贊生於伊朗。電影一開始，馬贊待在機場，想起過去發生的點點滴滴。一九七九年，瑪贊十歲，父母是左翼的知識份子，先是經歷君主專政，接著是神學家的統治。這段政治史脫不了戰爭、酷刑與處決，瑪贊的叔叔還為了追求自由犧牲生命。不過，瑪贊卻以較不血腥、多點幽默的方式陳述這一切。
Marjane was born in Iran. In the beginning of the movie, Marjane stays at the airport where she remembers what happened in the past. In 1979, she is ten. Her parents are left-wing intellects, who suffer under the Shah’s dictatorship and then suffer the rule of mullahs. This political history includes war, torture, and execution, in which Marjane’s uncle dies for freedom, but Marjane conveys this in a less bloody and more humorous way.
瑪贊熱愛西方文化，崇拜李小龍。她直言不諱。有一天，她公然在課堂上駁斥老師。父母擔心瑪贊的個性會毀了她，尤其在這種戰火連連與高壓統治的時期。最後，他們決定送瑪贊到奧地利。
Marjane loves western culture. She’s also mad about Bruce Lee. Marjane always speaks bluntly. One day, she refutes what the teacher says in class, then her parents worry that Marjane’s personality would destroy her, especially in time of war and repression. Finally, they decide to send her to Austria.
她花了一段時間適應新生活，覺得每件事都很新鮮有趣。她交了一些新朋友，隨時都能拿掉頭巾，也能在超市買到伊朗買不到的東西。不過，快樂的時光並不持久。
She spends a period of time on adapting to the new life, and she feels that everything in Austria is new and interesting. She makes some friends who have got punk haircut, takes off the scarf as she wants, and goes shopping in the supermarket where she can buy the goods which arn’t available in Iran. However, such happy time doesn’t last for a long time.
隨著聖誕節的到來，她的朋友都回家過節，她第一次感到孤單。有一天，一位朋友說：「…….人生沒有意義……」，她放聲大喊：「你知道有多少人為追求自由而犧牲生命嗎？你難道認為，他們的犧牲只為了好玩？」瑪贊終於體認到，自己跟他們格格不入，她開始擔心德黑蘭的家人。她所面臨的兩難逐漸浮上檯面──她究竟該離開家人、尋求自由，還是該留在伊朗、失去自由。她顯然選擇了前者，而深感罪惡。
As Christmax approaches, all her friends return home and it’s her first time to feel lonely in Austria. One day, one of her friends says:”……life is meaningless……”, then she shouted immediately: ”Do you know how many people sacrifice for freedom, like my uncle? Do you think they sacrifice for fun”? She experiences the alienation, and worries about her family in Tehran. A dillema becomes clear—leave her lovely family to gain freedom, or return home at cost of freedom. Apparantly, she chooses the former and feels guilty.
隨著她長大成人，她漸漸發現，以伊朗人的身分生活在奧地利並不容易。有一天，她在酒吧巧遇一名男子，他問她從哪裡來，她回答：「我是法國人」。在回家的途中，她想起祖母的話：「表裡如一」。此時的瑪贊顯然已經喪失了自我。
As she grows up, she discovers that to live in Austria as an Iranian isn’t easy. One day, she meets a guy in a bar. He asks her where she comes from, and she replies: “I am a Franch”. On the way home, she recalls what her grandma said: ”The outside and inside should be identical”. Obviously, she loses herself.
她的感情也不順遂。初戀男友最後發現自己只愛男人、不愛女人。第二個男友出軌。她失望透頂，流落街頭，還生了大病。正如她所言：「我都挺得過戰火，卻差點死於愛情」。
Her love story isn’t smooth as well. Her first boyfriend discovers that he loves men rather than women eventually. The next boyfriend betrayed her. She is bitterly disappointed, sleeps in the streets everyday and gets sick. As she says, “I survive from terrible war, but I’am almost dead of love”.
她打電話給父親，說自己想回伊朗，但她希望他們別問，她為何回去。她留在奧地利這麼多年，接受西方教育，她自然無法再容忍伊朗的氣氛，又再度陷入憂鬱。之後，她結了婚，但這場婚姻以離婚作結。
She tells her father she wants to return home, but she hopes they don’t ask her why. She stays in Austria for many years, and receives western education. She can’t tolerate the atmosphere of Iran anymore, and slips into depression again. Then she meets a guy and gets married, but the marriage ends up with divorce.
即使在自己的國家，她仍像個外人。再者，離婚婦女在伊朗可能遭受所有男性的騷擾。基於這些原因，她決定再次離開伊朗與她的家人，只是這一次，她不會忘了自己是伊朗人…….
Even in her homeland, she still feels like a foreigner. Besides, divorces women would be harassed by all men in Iran. For these reasons, she decides to leave Iran and her family again, but she won’t forget she comes from Iran this time.
這部電影著重在馬贊的內心感覺，而非口號，它也描繪出青少年時期的不確定性與兩難。此外，誠如導演瑪贊所言：「我很高興，《茉莉人生》的電影版不同於傳統的電影，並非由真人演出。如此一來，觀眾比較不會認為，這是第三世界的故事，一個遙遠的國度的故事而已」。這種描述與表現形式，的確讓我們更容易產生共鳴，並開始思考故事背後的嚴肅議題。
This movie concentrates on the feeling of a girl instead of slogans, and decribes the uncertainty of adolescence and the dillema. Moreover, as Marjane said: “The movie version is differenet from the traditional one acted by people. I’m glad about that. This will prevent audience considering it as a story of the Third World, the remote countries”. Indeed, it’s easier for us to understand resonate with the director and start to consider the serious issues behind the story.
片中的伊朗人，跟我們的刻板印象截然不同。瑪贊的父母總是放任她從事她想做的任何事，每當她做「錯」事，也不會責罵她。另一方面，本片許多睿智的建議與道德指引，幾乎都出自瑪贊的祖母。每當瑪贊沮喪，祖母就會安慰她，提供她建議；每當她犯錯，祖母會指正她；而且最重要的一點是，祖母不曾教導過她，女人應該怎樣。瑪贊似乎比伊朗的其他女孩幸運得多，因為多數女孩都沒有這麼開明的家人，所以這部片只能代表少數伊朗人的生活。然而，相較於其他有關回教國家的電影，它不僅讓我們意識到伊朗人與自己的差異，也讓我們體會到，伊朗人跟我們一樣是人，進而關心他們的苦難。
This movie also gives us a totally different view of Iranian. Marjane’s parents always let her do everthing she wants, and don’t blame her when she does something “wrong”. A lot of advice and moral guidance come from her grandma, who comforts Marjane when she’s depressed, crititizes her when she behaves badly, and the most important is that grandma never teaches Marjane what women should do. Marjane seems to be more fortunate than other girls in Iran. There are few families like hers in Iran. Thus, this movie only describes the life of more fortunate people in Iran. However, compared with other mainstream films about Muslim states, this movie not only lets us be aware of the difference of Iranians with us, but also make us realize that Iranians are human like us and care about what they suffer.
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