Cast: Daryl McCormack, Richard E. Grant, Julie Delpy, Stephen McMillan, Crispin Letts, Tomas Spencer

Director: Alice Troughton

1hour 42mins

Alice Troughton’s debut feature, The Lesson, is a strangely hypnotic, opaque mystery. Richard E. Grant plays J. M. Sinclair, an industrious and irascible British novelist who, after a highly successful career, has apparently retired from the literary world to enjoy his life on a large, leafy estate with his son, Bertie (Stephen McMillan), and his wife, Hélène (Julie Delpy), who rarely speaks and constantly gazes, stock-still, through her spectacles. Apparently, the Sinclairs’ eldest son, Felix, a talented writer and reader, drowned himself in the family lake following some unfavourable criticism from his father. J.M. and Hélène rarely, if ever, now mention Felix, as they eat meals to a background of classical music whilst indulging in petty squabbles. Then arrives the unassuming Liam Sommers (Daryl McCormack), a young aspiring writer hired by  the Sinclairs to sufficiently tutor Bertie in the hope that he’ll eventually be accepted into Oxford University. He and Bertie have daily meetings in the garden to discuss the work of Shakespeare and soon become friends, sharing roll-ups and discussing the severe behaviour of Bertie’s father. Meanwhile, in the room opposite Liam’s, Sinclair Senior taps relentlessly on his laptop as he develops his next novel, entitled Rose Tree, which oddly bears no resemblance to any of his previous output.

Being a huge fan, Liam knows everything about Sinclair's work and life as is possible, and although Sinclair doesn't have much to say about his writing process, except that it's a necessary part of his existence, nor of his personal life, he is clearly semi-mysterious, although most of his personality and behaviour becomes fairly apparent as the film develops, with his sole philosophy on the secret of writing being a simple one: "Good writers borrow, but great writers steal." How Sinclair operates as a domineering husband to his wife, and father to the couple's surviving son Bertie, and how Liam uses this chance to learn as much about him as possible, creates a tension - as Hélène's pleasant demeanour and Bertie's sarcastic attitude vanish the moment Sinclair enters the room. Grant wonderfully subverts what can be his effortlessly charming persona in the role, making it plainly apparent what an effort it is for Sinclair to stretch something resembling a smile on to his face. McCormack too is excellent as he plays the sympathetic but enigmatic blank slate of a protagonist, whose motive seems apparent, but whose ultimate aim might not be as innocent as it initially appears. There are secrets here, of course. Most of them are about the extent of Sinclair's destructive personality, as well as how much that behaviour has damaged his family members, but there are others that come to drive the plot-heavy third act. These include the sudden appearance of an elaborate and unclear scheme revolving around multiple copies of a manuscript and Liam's remarkable ability to recall large pieces of text on-demand. Beneath its classy surface, The Lesson covers issues such as art, inspiration, class, sexism, betrayal and revenge in an enjoyable low-key excursion, with superb performances from an excellent cast.