‘Persian Lessons’ Blu-Ray Review – Captivating WWII Drama Is An Under The Radar Gem

Occupied France, 1942. Gilles (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) 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 (Lars Eidinger), 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. The particular relationship between the two men sparks the jealousy of other prisoners and SS guards towards Gilles. And while the suspicions of Koch grow every day, Gilles understands that he will not be able to keep his secret very long…

For in-depth thoughts on Persian Lessons, please see my colleague Elijah Boxhill’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

Persian Lessons comes to Blu-Ray in a 1080p presentation that is quite stunning as it captures the bleak aesthetic of the past. This is a visually rich film with gorgeous shots of the surrounding environment juxtaposed with the horrors of the camp itself. No matter the location, this transfer allows for a sterling amount of detail. The cool, reserved colors are adeptly saturated with unique hues of clothing and elements of the production design in the lavish house. The highlights are handled beautifully, especially in the wintery setting, along with the intensely deep blacks that do not appear to suffer from any compression artifacts. There are no egregious instances of intrusive digital noise in the presentation. The skin tones look very detailed and natural all around. This presentation is definitely a winner from Cohen Media Group. 

Audio Quality

The film comes to Blu-Ray with a nuanced DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track in the original suite of languages with forced English subtitles and the option to make them English SDH. The movie does not feature much in the way of traditional action, but there are very tense moments and a consistent stream of environmental activity which comes through particularly well. The low end of the track is not the focus of the audio experience, as subtle environmental sounds make more of a showing in the surrounds. Dialogue and sound effects are appropriately balanced with the haunting score where nothing gets lost in the track. Surround channels get plentiful activity during the nature scenes and from hearing chatter of the imprisoned. This track does everything that is asked of it. 

Special Features

• Trailer: The nearly two-minute trailer is provided here. 

Final Thoughts

Persian Lessons is one of the best surprises of the year so far. The film walks a delicate tightrope when it comes to portraying characters as human without forgiving their serious flaws. You follow our main character as he decides he will do anything to survive, and the way in which that decision reverberates is haunting. The performances are a knockout, and the way in which this film portrays this specific story from the Holocaust is impactful without being exploitative. The forced kinship between the two main characters is captivating, and the eventual destination of this journey is one of the more masterful culminations we have seen in some time. Cohen Media Group and Kino Lorber have released a Blu-Ray featuring a great A/V presentation but practically nothing in the way of special features. It can be a bit tough to bring something new to your traditional Holocaust drama, but this feature stands tall as something special. Highly Recommended 

Persian Lessons will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital on July 18, 2023. 

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Cohen Media Group and Kino Lorber have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.