Persian Lessons(2020)

NR
2h 7m
- Drama
- War

Release Date: Sep 24, 2020 | Limited

A young Jewish man in a concentration camp has his life saved when executioners realize he owns a Persian book. Brought before a camp officer who wants to learn Farsi, Gilles agrees to teach him despite not knowing a word of the l...

Releases

Original Release | Sep 24, 2020

Director & Top Cast

Vadim Perelman
Director

Leonie Benesch
Actor

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: 2.35 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: Russia

Language: German

Summaries

Storyline

1942. Gilles, a young Belgian man, is arrested by the SS alongside other Jews and sent to a concentration camp in Germany. He narrowly avoids execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but then Gilles is assigned a seemingly untenable mission: to teach Persian to Koch, the officer in charge of the camp's kitchen, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Persia (Iran) once the war is over. Gilles finds himself having to invent a language he doesn't know, word by word. As the unusual relationship between the two men begins to incite jealousy and suspicion, Gilles becomes acutely aware that one false move could expose his swindle. Nazi-occupied France, 1942. Having escaped death by the skin of his teeth by claiming to be half-Persian, Gilles, a Jewish man from Belgium, is spared so that he can teach Persian to Klaus Koch, a mid-grade SS officer in charge of the concentration camp's kitchen. In reality, lucky Gilles doesn't speak a word of Persian, and to save himself from certain death, he must fabricate an entire language of convincing gibberish without raising suspicion. Now, Gilles' life is hanging by a thread, and one small mistake can blow his cover. Will the lie that has just saved Gilles bring about his downfall? — Nick Riganas