July 5, 2023
FILM: PERSIAN LESSONS
DIRECTED BY: VADIM PERELMAN
STARRING: NAHUEL PEREZ BISCAYART, LARS EIDINGER, JONAS NAY
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Persian Lessons is the latest film from director Vadim Perelman who is probably best known for his Oscar-nominated House of Sand and Fog from 2003. This project, which has been kicking around the festival circuit for the past three years, is loosely based on a short story about a Jewish man, Gilles, about to be killed by the Germans in World War 2 when he is able to convince them that he is actually Persian. This interests the Head of Camp, Klaus Koch, who plans to immigrate to Iran and live with his brother once the war is over. Koch uses Gilles to learn the nation’s language, Farsi. Of course, Gilles doesn’t actually know the language and to survive must invent words to teach Koch.
Some have said that the story and circumstances are improbable. Yet in interviews Perelman admits that they are a combination of several survival stories that highlight the perseverance of some imprisoned Jews during this very turbulent time. Viewing the film, it’s hard not to make comparisons to Roman Polanski’s 2002 film The Pianist in which Adrien Brody plays Wladyslaw Szpilman, also attempting to survive persecution during the war. Nahuel Perez Biscayart, who plays Gilles, even looks a bit like Brody although, interestingly, the actor is actually from Argentina. In both cases, there is an appropriate bleak tone and visual design to the films which capture the seemingly insurmountable odds faced by the main protagonists.
How Gilles creates the words for Koch is pretty ingenious as he relates them to the names of prisoners he is recording in a manuscript for Koch. The associations he makes between them help him to remember the made-up words and allows his allegiance with Koch to continue and even blossom into something akin to a friendship. Throughout though Gilles does endure some particularly rough times in labor camps as some of the Nazis are not convinced he is Persian.
As such, the film can be very intense and disturbing. Yet it is constantly surprising with many narrative twists. While it can be tough to experience the verbal abuse and brutality brought on by the Nazi characters in the film, which at this point may not be a selling point for audiences, Gilles’s convincing and unwavering commitment to his charade is quite inspiring. He becomes one with what he is creating and stoically stands his ground.
Biscayart is very good in this role for his non-verbal communication lets us only imagine what this character is calculating in his mind about how to continue on this perilous journey. Actor Lars Eidinger has a showier but no less effective role as Koch. He has to balance between Nazi commander mode and the deeper sides of the character that he can only hope will be fully realized once his present situation, almost a charade in and of itself, has ended.
It may be hard for some audience members to appreciate not being able to look up words via Google Translate to understand another language today. But there is something convincing about an insular group of soldiers who have already surrendered to the rhetoric of Hitler that also makes them miss the subtle realities of the world around them. Given that, the film seems very committed to the story it is telling and Perelman’s direction of the material is pretty compelling and moving to watch unfold.
Persian Lessons opens this week at Landmark Century Centre in Chicago.
FILM: PERSIAN LESSONS
DIRECTED BY: VADIM PERELMAN
STARRING: NAHUEL PEREZ BISCAYART, LARS EIDINGER, JONAS NAY
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Persian Lessons is the latest film from director Vadim Perelman who is probably best known for his Oscar-nominated House of Sand and Fog from 2003. This project, which has been kicking around the festival circuit for the past three years, is loosely based on a short story about a Jewish man, Gilles, about to be killed by the Germans in World War 2 when he is able to convince them that he is actually Persian. This interests the Head of Camp, Klaus Koch, who plans to immigrate to Iran and live with his brother once the war is over. Koch uses Gilles to learn the nation’s language, Farsi. Of course, Gilles doesn’t actually know the language and to survive must invent words to teach Koch.
Some have said that the story and circumstances are improbable. Yet in interviews Perelman admits that they are a combination of several survival stories that highlight the perseverance of some imprisoned Jews during this very turbulent time. Viewing the film, it’s hard not to make comparisons to Roman Polanski’s 2002 film The Pianist in which Adrien Brody plays Wladyslaw Szpilman, also attempting to survive persecution during the war. Nahuel Perez Biscayart, who plays Gilles, even looks a bit like Brody although, interestingly, the actor is actually from Argentina. In both cases, there is an appropriate bleak tone and visual design to the films which capture the seemingly insurmountable odds faced by the main protagonists.
How Gilles creates the words for Koch is pretty ingenious as he relates them to the names of prisoners he is recording in a manuscript for Koch. The associations he makes between them help him to remember the made-up words and allows his allegiance with Koch to continue and even blossom into something akin to a friendship. Throughout though Gilles does endure some particularly rough times in labor camps as some of the Nazis are not convinced he is Persian.
As such, the film can be very intense and disturbing. Yet it is constantly surprising with many narrative twists. While it can be tough to experience the verbal abuse and brutality brought on by the Nazi characters in the film, which at this point may not be a selling point for audiences, Gilles’s convincing and unwavering commitment to his charade is quite inspiring. He becomes one with what he is creating and stoically stands his ground.
Biscayart is very good in this role for his non-verbal communication lets us only imagine what this character is calculating in his mind about how to continue on this perilous journey. Actor Lars Eidinger has a showier but no less effective role as Koch. He has to balance between Nazi commander mode and the deeper sides of the character that he can only hope will be fully realized once his present situation, almost a charade in and of itself, has ended.
It may be hard for some audience members to appreciate not being able to look up words via Google Translate to understand another language today. But there is something convincing about an insular group of soldiers who have already surrendered to the rhetoric of Hitler that also makes them miss the subtle realities of the world around them. Given that, the film seems very committed to the story it is telling and Perelman’s direction of the material is pretty compelling and moving to watch unfold.
Persian Lessons opens this week at Landmark Century Centre in Chicago.