- Richard E. GrantJulie DelpyDaryl McCormack
- September 22nd 2023
- Alex Troughton
Daryl McCormack plays a young writer who accepts a tutoring job on the estate of his favourite author.
Richard E. Grant couldn’t be more perfectly cast as an esteemed author in Alice Troughton’s new noir thriller The Lesson.
He plays J.M. Sinclair, a legendary writer holed up in his study feverishly writing his long-awaited new novel.
His peace is ruined when his wife Hélène (Julie Delpy) hires aspiring novelist Liam Somers (Daryl McCormack) to tutor their son Bertie (Stephen McMillan) to help him get into Oxford University.
The offer of temporarily living at the luxury estate of his idol is too good for Liam to pass up. But is it too good to be true? Liam soon becomes entangled in the family’s web of lies and secrets.
Liam serves as the audience’s eyes into the wealthy world of the Sinclair family. Sinclair flaunts his upper-class status, intelligence and taste for highbrow music and art as if he is testing Liam, a writer in need of additional income.
But being rich doesn’t automatically make you a good author and being working class and unpublished doesn’t necessarily mean you are a bad one.
This is the crux of the power play between Liam and Sinclair and you’re never too sure who is in control of the situation.
It’s hard to imagine an actor more perfectly suited to the role of Sinclair than Grant – it simply had to be him.
Even though McCormack is the leading man and he does a fine job, Grant is the star of the show, with Delpy stealthily making an impression as the femme fatale-style figure.
The three actors make up for some of the shortcomings in the noir thriller. While it is designed to be a slow-burner, it is too glacially paced in the first half. It was never boring but viewers must wait for a twist for some time.
Once the twists and turns come into play, the story became much more compelling and captivating. They were unpredictable and shocking but weren’t always capitalised on for maximum effect.
The conclusion was solid but it could have done with a bit more because the narrative didn’t do enough in terms of excitement or thrills to really make it fully gratifying.
Despite the issues with the story, the main cast members worked well together, the narrative turns were genuinely surprising and the sun-drenched visuals were gorgeous in this ’90s-era throwback.
In cinemas from Friday 22nd September.
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