Persian Lessons

Set in occupied France in 1942, Persian Lessons follows Gilles, a young Belgian man arrested by the SS along with other Jewish prisoners and deported to a camp in Germany. Moments before he is to be shot, he saves himself by claiming he is not Jewish but Persian. The lie buys him time, though it draws the attention of Klaus Koch, an officer who runs the camp kitchen and hopes to open a restaurant in Iran after the war. Because Koch wants to learn Farsi, Gilles is ordered to teach him a language he does not actually speak. Each night he invents words to pass on the following day, and the arrangement that keeps him alive also breeds suspicion and jealousy among those around the two men, leaving Gilles aware that a single mistake could expose him.

Vadim Perelman directed the film, working from a screenplay by Ilya Zofin; both also produced alongside Timur Bekmambetov. It is Perelman's second feature, arriving years after his 2003 debut House of Sand and Fog and preceding The Passenger. Nahuel Pérez Biscayart plays Gilles, with Lars Eidinger as Koch, and Jonas Nay, Leonie Benesch, Alexander Beyer and David Schütter in supporting roles across a cast of thirty.

Released in April 2020, the drama runs 127 minutes and was a co-production of Russia, Belarus, Germany and France. Its worldwide box office reached about 5 million dollars, a modest return for a historical drama. Audiences rate it at 7.4 on IMDb from 15,000 votes and 7.6 on TMDB from just over 500 votes, while the critics' score stands lower, at 6.4 from 49 reviews.