Sepideh Farsi's animated film La Sirène (The Mermaid), which received rave reviews from critics and made the festival circuit, arrives in cinemas on Wednesday June 28, after competing at the Champs-Elysées Film Festival and Annecy.
With a disconcerting animation style to which we are not accustomed, the filmmaker tells the story of the occupation of Iran by Iraqi forces in 1980, through the eyes of Omid. The fourteen-year-old is stuck in the city with his grandfather, while his mother has fled and his older brother has gone off to fight.
We'll never really know the ins and outs of this war; what interests Sepideh Farsi is the atmosphere of this martyred city, destroyed by the Iraqis. And above all, the desolation of the protagonist, who must prematurely become a man to face this war he doesn't even understand. In this sense, The Siren is touching. But it's not always enough to fully engage the viewer, who may find time slow to follow Omid's wanderings in this battered city, where nothing happens anymore.
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