Persian Lessons
2020 | 127m | German
Popularity: 3 (history)
| Director: | Vadim Perelman |
|---|---|
| Writer: | Ilya Zofin |
| Staring: |
| 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. | |
| Release Date: | Apr 17, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Director: | Vadim Perelman |
| Writer: | Ilya Zofin |
| Genres: | Drama, War |
| Keywords | concentration camp, world war ii, nazi, concentration camp prisoner, german officer, exhaustion, fictional language, jewish |
| Production Companies | One Two Films, Hype Film, LM Media, Belarusfilm |
| Box Office |
Revenue: $3,825,668
Budget: $0 |
| Updates |
Updated: Aug 10, 2025 Entered: Apr 23, 2025 |
![UK Trailer [Subtitled]](/extra_thumbs/USWi3nZhoSU.jpg)
![Official Trailer [Subtitled]](/extra_thumbs/Q6zQuPLd9HQ.jpg)
| Name | Character |
|---|---|
| Nahuel Pérez Biscayart | Gilles |
| Lars Eidinger | Klaus Koch |
| Jonas Nay | Max |
| Leonie Benesch | Elsa |
| Alexander Beyer | Camp Commander |
| David Schütter | Paul |
| Luisa-Céline Gaffron | Yana |
| Andreas Hofer | Adjutant von Dewitz |
| Giuseppe Schillaci | Marco Rossi |
| Antonin Chalon | Jacob Rossi |
| Lola Bessis | Melanie |
| Mehdi Rahim-Silvioli | Nathan |
| Sofya Gershevich | Melanie |
| Nico Ehrenteit | Obersturmführer Krupp |
| Gareth McGregor | US Army Officer |
| Marcus Calvin | American Investigator |
| Peter Beck | Nazi Doctor |
| Felix von Bredow | SS-Untersturmführer Siemens |
| Oleg Veber | German soldier |
| Svetlana Anikey | SS German Girl 1 |
| Anastasia Gudei | SS German Girl 2 |
| Veronika Buslaeva | SS German Girl 3 |
| Elena Girenok | SS German Girl 4 |
| Serge Barbagallo | France KAPO |
| Pascal Elso | French Policeman |
| Ingo Hülsmann | SS-Sturmbannführer Farber |
| Elena Stetsenko | Stenographer |
| Gennadiy Fomin | Farmer |
| Anton Zhukov | German Soldier Innsbruck |
| Maximilian Anthony Hirschle | American Soldier |
| Name | Job |
|---|---|
| Sergey Toktarov | Visual Effects Supervisor |
| Vladislav Opelyants | Director of Photography |
| Vadim Perelman | Director |
| Dmitry Tatarnikov | Production Design |
| Nadezhda Zezyukova | Visual Effects Producer |
| Ilya Zofin | Screenplay |
| Vessela Martschewski | Editor |
| Sacha Galperine | Original Music Composer |
| Evgueni Galperine | Original Music Composer |
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Murad Osmann | Producer |
| Ilya Stewart | Producer |
| Leonid Shpolsky | Co-Producer |
| Elizaveta Chalenko | Co-Producer |
| Sol Bondy | Co-Producer |
| Rauf Atamalibekov | Producer |
| Ilya Zofin | Producer |
| Pavel Burya | Producer |
| Ilya Dzhincharadze | Co-Producer |
| Jamila Wenske | Co-Producer |
| Timur Bekmambetov | Producer |
| Vadim Perelman | Producer |
| Organization | Category | Person | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berlin International Film Festival | Best Supporting Actress | Clémence Poésy | Won |
Popularity History
| Year | Month | Avg | Max | Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 4 | 21 | 30 | 13 |
| 2024 | 5 | 23 | 40 | 14 |
| 2024 | 6 | 19 | 44 | 10 |
| 2024 | 7 | 19 | 33 | 11 |
| 2024 | 8 | 17 | 37 | 11 |
| 2024 | 9 | 13 | 18 | 9 |
| 2024 | 10 | 12 | 20 | 7 |
| 2024 | 11 | 14 | 25 | 8 |
| 2024 | 12 | 14 | 26 | 9 |
| 2025 | 1 | 14 | 23 | 10 |
| 2025 | 2 | 10 | 17 | 3 |
| 2025 | 3 | 5 | 17 | 1 |
| 2025 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| 2025 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| 2025 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 2025 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Trending Position
| Year | Month | High | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 4 | 176 | 444 |