Set during the Second World War, the story follows a Jewish man who avoids being sent to a concentration camp by claiming to be Persian. When a German military officer enlists him to speak him Farsi, he must pretend to speak the language to secure his survival.

Through its surprising premise, and carried by outstanding performances from Nahuel Pérez Biscayart and Lars Eidinger, Persian Lessons portrays the horrors of life in a camp during the Holocaust. Within this dehumanizing environment, a man survives by teaching an invented language to his oppressor.