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Aug 28, 2012 By Austin Trunick Web Exclusive

Chicken With Plums, the second collaboration from co-writers/directors Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, finds surprising humor in the bleakest of premises. World-famous violinist Nasser Ali Khan, played by Mathieu Amalric (A Christmas Tale, Quantum of Solace), has lost the will to live once his prized instrument is broken; he decides it’s time he holes up in his bedchamber to wait for the angel of death to take him. The film tracks the last eight days of his life, as he reflects on his past, and his family—brother, wife, children—tries to dissuade him from dying.

While Chicken With Plums is live-action rather than animated like the duo’s previous effort, Persepolis—this is also adapted from a graphic novel by Satrapi—it’s no less stylized; the movie is a treat, visually. The directors are never burdened by realism, cutting away to animated sequences, comedic flash-forwards and flashbacks, and colorful fantasies. The tone is never overly glum, either; this chronicle of a musician’s dying days are never above slipping in clever sight gags or even a fart joke. The end product is as whimsical a film about a suicidal old man as you’ll find. (www.sonyclassics.com/chickenwithplums)

Author rating: 6.5/10