Get ready for a literary thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat! Alice Troughton’s The Lesson is a must-see, with Richard E. Grant delivering a performance that could give him the same late-career boost that Bill Nighy received from Living. While it may not have the same intensity as Anatomy of a Fall, this upper-middle-class gothic is still a gripping tale that will keep you guessing until the very end.
The story follows young novelist Liam Sommers as he takes up a teaching post with the legendary J.M. Sinclair, a writer whose once-glittering career took a knock after the tragic death of his son Felix. Sommers is tasked with tutoring Felix’s teenage brother Bertie and coaching him through to a prestigious university place, but Sinclair is sceptical about his son having the chops to pass the exam. What the family do not yet know is that Sommers is something of a superfan when it comes to J.M. Sinclair, watching endless interview footage of the writer holding court.
At first, this suggests a cuckoo-in-the-nest scenario, complete with sinister Post-It notes, but after a frosty start the imperiously rude Sinclair takes a shine to the young man. Well-read, and with a photographic memory, Sommers is also useful in the I.T. department, which comes in handy during Sinclair’s frequent tech meltdowns. Sinclair even trusts Sommers with his long-delayed new novel Rose Tree, which Sommers agrees to read on condition that Sinclair casts an eye over his own long-gestating novel, Tower 24. But when Sommers fails to pay the correct obeisance and criticizes Sinclair’s book for its weak final chapter, Sinclair lets rip and trashes Sommers’ work with withering savagery.
In the film’s last chapter, Sommers sets about taking his revenge, and a plan starts to take shape after he discovers a mysterious room, locked since Felix’s death. But although the twist is telegraphed pretty early on, things end with a satisfying surprise that reveals the true architect of all this intrigue.
With a standout performance from Richard E. Grant and a clever, meta layer of irony that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Lesson is a must-see for fans of literary thrillers. Don’t miss it!
Title: The Lesson
Festival: Tribeca (Spotlight Narrative)
Director: Alice Troughton
Screenwriter: Alex MacKeith
Cast: Richard E Grant, Julie Delpy, Daryl McCormack, Stephen McMillan, Crispin Letts
Running time: 1 hr 42 min
Sales agent: Film Constellation
