It had been a long time since I last strolled into a theater to be immediately swept up by a barrage of enchanting sights and sounds. But “Chicken With Plums,” a French/Iranian fable of love and death, managed to do just that. Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi’s first feature film since their Oscar-nominated “Persepolis” is nothing short of delightful.
The film moves melodically through the life and final days of Nasser-Ali Khan, a world-renowned violinist who is searching frantically to fill the void caused by a lost violin. But we soon learn that Khan has lost far more than just his instrument; he has lost his sole mode of expression.
Failing to find a substitution for an instrument whose sounds were the only thing that conjured up the deepest emotions and memories of his lost-love, Khan decides that he must die. And die he does, but only after eight long days of tormented dreams, failed coaxing by his family, and a chilling encounter with Azrael, the angel of death. The bulk of the story takes place in flashbacks to Khan’s earlier life, which contextualizes his struggles and make his story even more compelling.
Paronnaud and Satrapi create a character defined and dominated by his past, a man whose passion for music and art is equaled only by his craving for life and love. As the film progresses, we begin to understand and even empathize with Khan’s seemingly overly melodramatic desire to end his own life. Forced into a loveless marriage and denied a dream, he is a man who has lost everything of importance to him, yet is oddly enchanting for it.
“Chicken with Plums” manages to make lost love—and even death—into a stunning spectacle, romanticizing and stylizing Khan’s overarching sadness. The film provides the purest taste of bittersweet melancholy, rooted in the charms of wondrous magical-realism.
Never hindered by the limitations of conventionality—or, for that matter, believability—“Chicken With Plums” struts confidently and with grace into a world of astonishing vibrancy, intermixed with animated landscapes and smoky dream sequences. This film is the work of dreamers, establishing the directors as visionary artists whose creativity leaps about the screen with wonderful vitality.
Interestingly, the movie is never too challenging or even indicative of an importance beyond its immediate narrative, but it is from this simplicity that the film gets its charm. It only briefly dabbles in a world outside the confines of Khan’s troubled mind, and only momentarily exposes the effects of his death upon his family. But even this is glossed over in flash-forward scenes that depict the unfruitful life of his daughter and of his son who grows up to be a darkly comedic imbecile.
Thus, the film stays true to its fable form. It takes your breath away, but only for a few moments. Always interesting, but never important. Delightful, fleeting, fantastical, and ultimately enticingly straightforward, “Chicken With Plums” is a breath of fresh air amidst a sea of films which have long abandoned the ability to fascinate and charm.