Persian Lessons focuses less on a parade of unspeakable violence, which we are all aware of, and more on the victim’s survivor’s guilt, the victimiser’s murderous self-delusion, and the muddied waters of the human relationship between the two.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 23, 2024

The film is also an interesting reflection on languages. Not only does the audience hear multiple languages spoken in the camp, such as German, French, and Italian to name a few, but the movie also delivers a lesson in linguistics.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 15, 2024

It’s a worthwhile watch for the fantastic performances of its central leads, and if you can let go of the glaringly obvious language plot holes, then you may find Persian Lessons a thrilling addition to the ever increasing genre of Holocaust movies.

| Original Score: C+ | Apr 26, 2024

There are moments of suspense, as when a real Farsi-speaking Persian winds up in the camp, and moments of beauty, as we watch Reza choose names for each hungry prisoner. But the heart of the piece is the growing relationship between Reza and Klaus.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 5, 2023

The surprises the film unravels for us to discover are satisfactory and exciting. [Full review in Spanish]

| Jul 19, 2023

Plagued by contrivance and implausibility, “Persian Lessons” nonetheless capitalizes on a pair of highly credible performances to emerge a hard-to-forget Holocaust tale in which memory is both a prisoner’s bane and his best means of survival.

| Original Score: B | Jul 1, 2023

The war drama could have been powerful and human, but too much distracts from the central narrative.

| Jun 23, 2023

Not a great film, but in many ways extraordinary, unpredictable, and memorable.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 21, 2023

The exchanges between Biscayart and Eidinger speak to compelling, stressful cinema.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 21, 2023

Would have been better if not so awkwardly executed.

| Original Score: B | Jun 17, 2023

WWII slow-burn looks at an event that couldn’t possibly be true. Awkwardly handled moments and unnecessary superficial sentiments occasionally break the tension spell, but overall, it’s a gut punch.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 16, 2023

[It's] a thriller of such limited scope that it loses the sense of the horrors surrounding this clever man.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 16, 2023

Another timeless tale of the Holocaust, filled with degradation and unexpected joy, as a French Jew pretends to be Persian -- even inventing a fake language -- to save himself from Nazi genocide.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 15, 2023

Persian Lessons doesn’t totally collapse but it wobbles under the weight of the contrivances required to keep it going.

| Jun 15, 2023

It's a compelling plot and even though there are some questionable personality changes with key characters, Persian Lessons is an intense drama with a great ending.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 14, 2023

This Holocaust melodrama, about a Jewish prisoner who outwits his Nazi overseer, is a dubious idea, competently executed.

| Original Score: C | Jun 14, 2023

It took a little bit to worm into me, but I was happy it did.

| Jun 13, 2023

It's a little maudlin overall and works through well-worn tropes... But the thing that sold it for me is the central performance by Nahuel Pérez Biscayart.

| Jun 13, 2023

That it ultimately manages to work as effectively as it does is a credit to the firm, focused visual grip of director [Vadim] Perelman.

| Jun 12, 2023

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.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 12, 2023