The Lesson: British thriller about a literature graduate who peddles to his idol to tutor his son.
Plot and background
Liam (Daryl McCormack) is a literature graduate still at the beginning of his career. His great idol is the star author J.M. Sinclair (Richard E. Grant). When a tutor position opens up for Bertie (Stephen McMillan), Sinclair’s son, Liam gets the job. He is to help Bertie pass the entrance exam for the elite Oxford University. His new job requires him to move into the family’s lavish estate, where art curator and mother Hélène (Julie Delpy) completes family life.
Once on the scene, Liam also hopes to learn from his great idol. The longer he stays at the country estate, the more dark secrets he learns about the family. For example, that the eldest son passed away two years ago, leaving a big gap in family life. In addition to tutoring, Liam uses the time to work on his first novel. He hopes to get some tips from Sinclair for this. In return, he gets to be one of the first people to read the star author’s latest novel. But the celebrated idol soon has nothing but disgust for the young talent.
“The Lesson” – background, cast, theatrical release
The British thriller “The Lesson” is the feature film debut of television director Alice Troughton (“Doctor Who”, “Cucumber”), likewise screenwriter Alex MacKeith delivers his debut. Character actors Richard E. Grant (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”), Julie Delpy (“Before” trilogy) and Daryl McCormack (“My Hours with Leo”) were cast in the leading roles.
Although the action is set in England, a manor house in Reinbek in Schleswig-Holstein was chosen as the main filming location. Further filming also took place in Hamburg. On October 26, 2023, the thriller “The Lesson” will be released here in German cinemas.
