Chicken with Plums - DVD

Film: Tehran in 1958: violinist Nasser Ali Khan (Mathieu Amalric) has been enchanting people with his music for years. Ever since he fell unhappily in love with the beautiful Irane (Golshifteh Farahani), his playing has had a very special touch that hits his listeners right in the heart. But since his love was never fulfilled and Nasser is instead unhappily married to Faringuisse (Maria de Medeiros), a teacher who loves him devotedly, his life can't really be called happy. When his beloved violin, given to him decades ago by his teacher (Didier Flamand), is broken during a marital dispute, the musician's heart also breaks for good. All attempts to replace the instrument fail. Therefore, Nasser lies down in his bed and decides to die. And while he waits for death, he looks back on his very eventful life full of unfulfilled passions...

With Chicken with Plums, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud present the follow-up to their multi-award-winning animated film Persepolis. As in that film, the story is based on a comic book. This time, however, Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel was not staged as an animated film. There are short animation sequences, but actually Chicken with Plums is a very special staged almost fairy-tale-like real film, which tells its rather simple story in sometimes fascinatingly beautiful images.

In the beginning it is rather difficult for the viewer to build up real sympathy for Nasser. Not only does his obsession for the perfect sound seem almost insane, but his behavior towards his wife, who really loves him, is unfair and mean. But the more one learns about his life and especially about his unrequited love and understands why the very special sound of his violin was so important to him, Nasser is seen in a completely different light.

Sometimes very melancholy, sometimes filled with biting sarcasm and clever wit, Chicken with Plums lives primarily from its unconventional, very playful staging. For whenever the viewer is in danger of wondering about the meaning of the story, the film comes up with new imaginative ideas that immediately draw you back in and make you forget any doubts about the story.

Thus, the new film by the acclaimed directing duo also leaves a lasting impression. This one is admittedly not quite as strong as Persepolis had been. The autobiographical animated film was just too outstanding and special for that. But the way in which Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud tell the story of an unrequited love and show how the suffering of a single person through art can make many other people happy, is so original, visually powerful and imaginative that there remains only one possible judgment: for lovers of artful program cinema fare absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Since only a data-reduced press sample was available for the test, no rating can be given here about the final picture and sound quality.

Extras: The additional material of the DVD consists of three short unreleased scenes (approx. 1:45 min.), as well as a very worth seeing Making of (approx. 30 min.), which reveals to the viewer a quite revealing look behind the scenes. In addition, director Marjane Satrapi tells her lead actor Mathieu Amalric the story that inspired her film (approx. 16 min.). Finally, there are some scenes in the form of animatics (approx. 5 min.). The trailer for the film rounds out the good bonus material.

Conclusion: Chicken with Plums can't quite match its predecessor Persepolis, but it still impressively demonstrates how imaginative and visually stunning entertaining arthouse cinema can be. The enchanting story is told sometimes humorously, then again dreamily or melancholically. If you like original art house cinema, you simply can't miss this DVD. Recommended

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp