Persian Lessons
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.
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Cast
47 people
Nahuel Pérez Biscayart
Gilles
Known for
BPM (Beats per Minute)
See You Up There
Lars Eidinger
Klaus Koch
Known for
Babylon Berlin
Personal Shopper
Sol Bondy
Also in
Prélude
Ilya Zofin
Rauf Atamalibekov
Jonas Nay
Max
Known for
Deutschland
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Wolfgang Kohlhaase
Evgueni Galperine
Leonie Benesch
Elsa
Known for
Babylon Berlin
The Teachers' Lounge
Vladislav Opelyants
Alexander Beyer
Camp Commander
Known for
The Little Drummer Girl
Deutschland
Pavel Burya
Vadim Perelman Director · Ilya Zofin Screenplay Evgueni Galperine Composer
Worldwide gross $3.8M · United States release June 9, 2023 · Produced in Russia, Germany, Belarus, France
Box office
Worldwide gross
$3,825,668
Production
LM Media
Production
One Two Films
Production
Belarusfilm
Production
Hype Studios
Production
Russia · Germany · Belarus · France
Produced in
Languages
Original title
Persischstunden
Original language
German
Spoken on screen
English · French · German · Italian · Persian
Release dates
Germany · February 22, 2020
Premiere · Berlin International Film Festival
Germany · September 24, 2020
Theatrical
United States · June 9, 2023
Limited theatrical
Australia
October 14, 2021 · Theatrical
Brazil
March 16, 2022 · Digital · VOD
China
March 19, 2021 · Theatrical
Czechia
June 24, 2021 · Theatrical
Denmark
April 17, 2020 · Limited theatrical
Estonia
November 6, 2020 · Theatrical
Finland
September 17, 2021 · Theatrical
France
January 19, 2022 · Theatrical
April 28, 2022 · Digital · VOD
May 3, 2022 · Physical · DVD
April 23, 2025 · TV · ARTE
Germany
January 29, 2021 · Physical · DVD + Blu-ray
Greece
September 16, 2021 · Theatrical
Hong Kong SAR China
May 6, 2021 · Theatrical
Hungary
June 10, 2021 · Digital
Israel
June 16, 2022 · Theatrical
Italy
April 26, 2021 · Theatrical
Lithuania
October 30, 2020 · Theatrical
Luxembourg
January 29, 2021 · Premiere · Luxembourg City Film Festival
Netherlands
March 11, 2021 · Theatrical
Norway
April 17, 2020 · Theatrical
Poland
October 29, 2021 · Theatrical
Portugal
December 10, 2020 · Theatrical
Russia
October 7, 2020 · Premiere · Moscow International Film Festival
April 8, 2021 · Theatrical
Serbia
November 12, 2020 · Theatrical
Slovakia
June 24, 2021 · Theatrical
South Korea
December 15, 2022 · Theatrical
Spain
January 14, 2021 · Premiere · BCN Film Festival Premieres
January 22, 2021 · Theatrical
May 14, 2021 · Digital
Sweden
November 11, 2020 · Premiere · Stockholm International Film Festival
Switzerland
October 1, 2020 · Digital
Taiwan
March 26, 2021 · Theatrical
United Kingdom
January 22, 2021 · Digital
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