"Cool, clever and exciting"

When Executive Producer Judy Tossell and Director Alice Troughton met in Hamburg, it was not yet clear that their future project would be filmed here many months later. "Together with my British production partners, we searched all over Germany for suitable locations for 'The Lesson'. However, it quickly became clear that Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein were particularly well suited to portraying Oxford in England - because that's exactly where the film is set," says Tossell, who is based in Berlin with her production company Egoli Tossell Pictures.

"The Lesson" is about the young author and literary scholar Liam (Daryl McCormack), who accepts a position as tutor for the spoilt, grumpy son of his literary idol, the star writer J.M. Sinclair (Richard E. Grant). In order to prepare his son as well as possible for his entrance exam, Liam moves to the Sinclair's glamorous country estate and begins writing his own novel alongside his lessons. But Liam soon realises that he is entangled in a tightly woven web of family secrets, resentment and retribution.

Filming in Reinbek

The team found the glamorous country estate of star author Sinclair in Reinbek, Schleswig-Holstein, just outside Hamburg. A property that had been for sale for some time, complete with pond, which was supposed to be perfect for the little intimate play. However, filming had to be postponed - and when Alice Troughton and her crew finally wanted to start filming in 2022, the house had been sold: "That really was a disaster for us. However, the previous owner stood up for us and ultimately ensured that the new owners were open to our filming. It was a load off our minds! We were even able to rent a small house on the neighbouring property, which was perfect for the small garden house that Liam moves into in the film," reveals Executive Producer Tossell.

Many of the crew members came from Hamburg - including production designer Seth Turner, who has worked with Fatih Akin several times in recent years and was also recently the art director for "King's Land" with Mads Mikkelsen. For "The Lesson", however, the English-born director contributed even more: "Seth was the one who ultimately found the house in Reinbek for us through his contacts. He also studied in London and some of his works can be found in the film house," says Tossell. Sinclair's wife Hélène, played by Julie Delpy, is a mysterious art curator and accordingly has numerous exhibits on the estate.

"The Lesson" was shot in just 22 days - but part of the film crew arrived around four weeks beforehand to set up the house for the shoot. An indoor swimming pool was quickly transformed into Hélène's studio by installing wooden mouldings over the pool. The crew also built a footbridge by the pond and redesigned the garden. Sinclair's office was originally a bedroom - this was also extensively remodelled. "And we repainted almost all the walls," says Judy Tossell. The film team used a former museum as a production base, which was only a three-minute walk from Reinbek S-Bahn station. From here, it was only a five-minute walk to the film location.