“Persian Lessons” is an entertaining, easy to watch film that sparks laughter at times, and will certainly push viewers to question the claim that it’s based on true events.
It’s part fable, part satire, and partly a commentary on memory and language. Overall, it’s most likely a very, very loose interpretation of the facts, since most of the plot seems to strain credulity. Nevertheless, most agree that a kernel of truth must give rise to an unforgettable and unmissable ending.
Thus, it may be a surprise to learn that the film is a holocaust film, but one that goes light on the violence and atrocities. The director, (Vadim Perelman) never “depicts anything too harrowing …[or] upsetting to make you look away from the screen” and is “troubling easy to watch,” (The Guardian).
Gilles (played by Argentine actor Nahuel Pérez Biscyartna) is a Jew from Antwerp who’s rounded up by the Nazis in occupied France and sent to a people-processing facility—a way station before prisoners are sent on to concentration camps. Through a few twists of fate and some fast thinking, Gilles convinces his captors that he is half Persian and is fluent in speaking Farsi. This could save his life since one of the Nazi commanders has been looking for a Persian prisoner who can teach him the language. Commander Klaus Koch (Lars Eidinger), a master chef, plans on opening a restaurant in Tehran after the war.
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