Persian Lessons

2020 · 2h07 · Film

Starring Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Lars Eidinger, Jonas Nay, Leonie Benesch, Alexander Beyer, David Schütter, Luisa-Céline Gaffron, Andreas Hofer, Giuseppe Schillaci, Antonin Chalon

Ideal when you feel… Sad / low

Occupied France, 1942. Gilles is arrested by SS soldiers alongside other Jews and sent to a camp in Germany. He narrowly avoids sudden execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but Gilles gets assigned a life-or-death mission: to teach Farsi to Head of Camp Koch, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran once the war is over. Through an ingenious trick, Gilles manages to survive by inventing words of "Farsi" every day and teaching them to Koch.

Original language

German

Screenplay

Ilya Zofin

Music

Sacha Galperine, Evgueni Galperine

Cinematography

Vladislav Opelyants

Cast

Leonie Benesch, Alexander Beyer, David Schütter, Luisa-Céline Gaffron, Andreas Hofer, Giuseppe Schillaci, Antonin Chalon, Lola Bessis, Mehdi Rahim-Silvioli

Updated July 22, 2026

Trailer

How to watch