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Persian Lessons

Persischstunden (Persian Lessons)

2020

Vadim Perelman

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Lars Eidinger, Leonie Benesch, Jonas Nay ...

6.6

2,379

Drama 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 Farsi to Koch, the officer in charge of the camp’s kitchen, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran once the war is over. ... [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		Michael Rechtshaffen Los Angeles Times	"The improbable 'Persian Lessons' manages to land an emotional punch"
		Christian Zilko IndieWire	"It's an old-school period piece that's likely to please traditional arthouse audiences, but it sometimes drifts towards a feel-good narrative that can feel tone deaf when you consider the horrific backdrop of WWII"
		Lee Marshall Screendaily	"A big, widescreen cinematic ride which deftly mixes suspense, laughter and tears"
		Peter Debruge Variety	"And yet, for all its technical strengths (...) the movie feels fraudulent, almost farcical at times (...) It is, however, remarkably well acted by Biscayart and Eidinger"
		Kevin Maher The Times	"The ending's a tear-jerker, but it's too little too late (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"
		Boyd van Hoeij The Hollywood Reporter	"Impressive ending and acting, though it has a wobbly handle on its characters (...) [The story] is powerful but sometimes also somewhat clumsily told"
		Kaleem Aftab Cineuropa	"Perelman has succeeded in making a very watchable tale (...) There are plenty of elements that feel like old British war movies, with the ability to mix a comic storyline with conflict"
		Beatrice Loayza The New York Times	"Eidinger brings out the tragic absurdity of men who blindly follow orders. His performance anchors the film's otherwise clumsy tonal shifts"
		Mark Jenkins The Washington Post	"The movie is much more compelling as a parable of communication and remembrance than as a realistic account of survival in a Nazi concentration camp (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"
		Marya E. Gates rogerebert.com	"Though millions of Jewish people were imprisoned and killed in concentration camps during this time, this misguided drama, written by lya Tsofin, isn’t interested in the truth of their stories (...) Rating: ★½ (out of 4)"
		Hanna Flint Empire	"Well made and well acted but Ilja Zofin's script is filled with well-trodden World War II tropes, and the longer this improbable parable goes on, the less convincingly it holds up (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Cath Clarke The Guardian	"This fable about language and memory is a troublingly easy watch -though it floored me in the devastating final moments, unexpectedly acquiring great depth and seriousness of purpose (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Maxwell Rabb Chicago Reader	"The war drama could have been powerful and human, but too much distracts from the central narrative"

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