Marjane Satrapi, 'Persepolis' author and director, dies aged 56

Franco-Iranian author and film director Marjane Satrapi, renowned for her graphic novel and film Persepolis, has died aged 56, a year after the passing of “the love of her life”, a member of her close circle said on Thursday.

“Marjane Satrapi died of sadness a little over a year after the death of Mattias Ripa, her husband and the love of her life,” they said in a statement.

Born in 1969 in Rasht in northern Iran, Satrapi arrived in France in 1994 and gained French nationality in 2006.

An outspoken critic of Iran’s theocratic government, Satrapi’s Persepolis recounts her early life in Tehran, struggling with 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 Satrapi, saying she was “a great artist who turned her Iranian childhood into a universal tale”.

The films she directed included a 2007 adaptation of the graphic novel of Persepolis – co-directed by Vincent Paronnaud – which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar.