Directing: B+
Acting: A-
Writing: B-
Cinematography: B+
Editing: B

The Lesson is a fine movie with a serviceable story, and will hold the attention of plenty viewers with no particular interest in looking upon it with a critical eye.

You can perhaps see my predicament in that context. I won’t make the blanket statement that I am incapable of looking upon a film without a critical eye; plenty of wildly entertaining titles are built for that very purpose—although even those have had varying levels of success. The issue with The Lesson is that it actively invites a critical eye, and in so doing underscores its own flaws.

Any film about literary figures, and particularly any film about a supposedly brilliant writer, can only truly succeed if its own script features brilliant writing. Unfortunately, the writing is the weakest thing about The Lesson. None of the fictionalized prose written by J.M. Sinclair, famed novelist, comes across as particularly brilliant, as it frequently gets read aloud. I almost feels ironic that the script, written by Alex MacKeith for his first feature film, is an original work. Maybe he wrote it as a movie instead of as a novel is because it wouldn’t quite work as a novel—there would be far too much expectation to see many more paragraphs of Sinclair’s “brilliant” work.

Another irony is that Sinclair is actually played brilliantly by Richard E. Grant, who elevates the material, as he is wont to do in virtually any role he plays. Now 66 years old, his very talent seems to get richer with age, and he disappears into his parts. Here, he plays a narcissistic and pompous old man who has let a lifetime of adoration get to his head. And, along with his wife Hélène (Julie Delpy) and his son Bertie (Stephen McMillan), they are still in the throes of grieving the loss of the favored son.

Thrown into this mix is young writer Liam (Daryl McCormack), who has been hired on as live-in tutor to Bertie, to assist in studies for a prized college admission. We see the story play out from Liam’s perspective, through which we are subject to multiple plot twists, more than one of which can be seen coming from a mile away.

And yet: this ensemble, even including the stoic butler (Crispin Letts), is esceptionally well cast across the board, and I felt The Lesson was worth seeing for that reason alone. Grant is the clear standout, but Delpy brings a mysteriously quiet presence, and McMillan plays Bertie’s petulance under enormous pressure wonderfully.

When it comes to the story, I will only say this: at the outset it seems to be about the relationship between Liam and Bertie, with even a very brief hint of romance that quickly gets shut down; I was actually a little disappointed, not that romance doesn’t blossom between them per se, but that neither of their sexuality ever gets directly addressed at all. And in that case, why hint at it just that once? Ultimately, The Lesson becomes about all of these people’s relationship with Sinclair, and whether he will respond to people with cruelty or neglect, depending on his mood. This shift in focus could have worked if not for the story playing out from that point forward so conventionally. There are moments of contrivance that are unnecessary at best, and one shot, meant to trick us into thinking Liam is about to smother Sinclar to death with a pillow and then turning out to be a fake-out, borders on unforgivable. That was a moment that genuinely deserved an eye roll.

There is an element of frustration to watching The Lesson, because it offers no insights whatsoever, with the possible exception of skilled performers making the best of what they were given to work with. The story plays out almost as an ode to mediocrity, but the actors are anything but. Which is to say, they’re all worth watching here, but they’ve all been in better things before.

*Have any of us learned anything here today?*

Overall: B