21. Persian Lessons; movie review

 

 

PERSIAN LESSONS

Cert TBA

127 mins

BBFC advice: TBA

Persian Lessons was so good that it has inspired me to allow one of my golden movie rules to be broken.

I have previously been something of a harsh critic of those film-makers who have played fast and loose with the phrase 'true events'.

Vadim Perelman's film uses riveting fictional storytelling to hammer home key points about the Holocaust, so claims the same in its preamble.

I felt compelled to forgive its makers because the movie grips damned hard.

Persian Lessons is set Nazi-occupied France in 1942 and centres on Gilles (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) who is arrested with fellow Jews by SS soldiers and sent to a camp in Germany. 

He narrowly avoids execution by telling the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian (Iranian) and provides evidence via a first edition book he has actually reluctantly swapped for a sandwich.

The reason the lie saves him is that a senior German officer (Lars Eidinger) is obsessed with wanting to learn Farsi so he can open a restaurant in Tehran after the war.

Of the cuff, Gilles begins to invent words, claiming that they are Farsi and teaching them to the officer.

However, he is forever on the edge, fearing that he will be discovered by either the senior officer or other prisoners and SS guards who are jealous of his special treatment.

Oh, and there is the small matter of remembering all of the words he has made up and their meaning.

Make no mistake, Persian Lessons is brutal. Indeed, it poses huge questions about how easily men - in this case, the SS guards - can lose their humanity.

In civilian life, Eidinger's character is a chef but he has transformed into a violent angry man who doesn't flinch at multiple murders.

Eidinger plays the part with total conviction and his verbal sword-fencing with Biscayart is memorable.

But it is the latter who gives the most stirring performance - prompting the audience to feel what it must have been like in the shoes of a prisoner of war who will try anything to stay alive.

Meanwhile, the film also goes down the unusual path of addressing the politics of the officers' in the camp and even love rivalries.

The combination of all parts makes for a consistently intense and clever movie.

Reasons to watch: Gripping Second World War thriller

Reasons to avoid: It's not a true story

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: Very brief

Overall rating: 9/10

Did you know? After originally declaring itself neutral at the beginning of the Second World War, Iran (previously called Persia) had cut off all relations with the Axis Powers by the spring of 1942 and had expelled all of their nationals.

Did you know? Vadim Perelman: “There is a definite resurgence of hatred in this world and it’s never too late or too early to tell that story in order to educate.” Deadline

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