Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Daryl McCormack, Richard E. Grant, Julie Delpy, Stephen McMillan
Intro:
… takes its sweet time to get to the really juicy content, but it’s so very entertaining once it kicks in that the restlessness of the build-up is worth it.
How does one define creativity? Is it the ability to create original ideas? Is it the skill of rearranging pre-existing ideas? Is it having the capacity to take one’s own environment and circumstances, and being able to see the threads that connect all those events? Within the often-thankless job of writing, it can be a difficult question to answer, which itself can create great material for writing about writing (a popular vice among those in the trade).
The Lesson, the feature debut for both transatlantic TV stalwart director Alice Troughton (perhaps best known for delivering one of modern Doctor Who’s greatest technical achievements in ‘Midnight’), and guitar-touting comedian Alex MacKeith as screenwriter, explores the worth of the written word through a domesticated slow burn. It follows budding writer Liam (Good Luck To You, Leo Grande’s Daryl McCormack) as he takes a tutoring job for the son of his greatest literary idol J. M. Sinclair (Richard E. Grant).
The first half involves a lot of build-up on the thematic ideas and interpersonal relationships of the story, although it arguably spends a bit too much time on laying the foundation for what’s to come, instead of being engaging in its own right.
The production values shine, from Anna Patarakina’s cold and calculated cinematography, to Isobel Waller-Bridge’s lush waltz soundtrack, and the cast are all compelling in their own right. Unfortunately, there’s a demarcation between its laborious beginnings, and how wickedly fun it becomes later.
Once the manuscript for Sinclair’s latest novel suddenly disappears, things pick up at a lightning pace. The strain evident in the relationships between Sinclair, his wife Hélène (Julie Delpy), his son Bertie (Stephen McMillan), and Liam himself, reveals deepened cracks that allow for entertainingly venomous dynamics, not to mention Grant gradually getting a chance to unleash his special blend of Swazi-spiced ham for all to gorge on.
As for the themes, once it starts turning its earlier musings into dramatic praxis, the chew within their presentation becomes much more enticing. Using a paraphrased version of the quote “Good artists copy, great artists steal” as its central phrase, it pokes and prods at the idea of ownership of words, or even specific arrangements of words, and the ways that the infamous artistic ego can warp one’s most personal stories. There’s also a lot of cheeky pleasure out of the layers upon layers of irony in watching Sinclair and Liam try to recreate the lost manuscript from memory.
The Lesson takes its sweet time to get to the really juicy content, but it’s so very entertaining once it kicks in that the restlessness of the build-up is worth it. It’s a solid start for the cinematic careers of its director and writer, who give the highly capable cast and crew plenty of material to work with, and for those who are familiar with wielding the mop of a word janitor, it offers delectable food for thought about this precarious line of work.
