Harmony Lessons (2013): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2013, Harmony Lessons is a drama film directed by Emir Baigazin, running about 115 minutes.

What it’s about. During a medical examination, 13-year-old Aslan is humiliated in front of a load of his fellow pupils. The incident unleashes his latent personality disorder. Plagued by self-doubt, he strives for cleanliness and perfection and is obsessed with trying to control everything around him. His compulsion draws Aslan, who lives with his grandmother in a village in Kazakhstan, into increasingly difficult situations. He abhors the way most of his fellow pupils are held in the sway of a criminal scheme, in which Bolat, one of Aslan’s tormentors, is also involved. Bolat blackmails the younger children into paying him protection money; he has nothing but contempt for ostracised Aslan.

Who’s in it. Harmony Lessons stars Timur Aidarbekov as Aslan, Anelya Adilbekova as Akzhan, Aslan Anarbayev as Bolat and Mukhtar Andassov as Mirsain, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 6.9/10, Harmony Lessons has drawn a solid, mixed-to-positive response.

Where to watch. In GB you can rent or buy it from Apple TV Store and Amazon Video. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Harmony Lessons page.

If you liked it. Fans of Harmony Lessons tend to enjoy The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, Schindler's List and The Godfather Part II.