Good Luck to You, Leo Grande debuts on Hulu on June 17, 2022.
In Sophie Hyde’s Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Dame Emma Thompson is in her most candid role as Nancy, a former schoolteacher and widow who has lived a boring and basic lifestyle – she has never even had an orgasm. In an effort to reclaim her sexuality, she hires a young, handsome sex worker, Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack), to fulfil her every sexual fantasy. Though that premise seems superficial on the surface, what unfolds is a far cry from 50 Shades of Grey, beautifully peeling back the layers between two very different people exposing their emotional baggage, vulnerabilities, and personal trauma.
With the set simply consisting of the interior of one hotel room, the majority of the film’s success depends on the chemistry and conversations between the two main characters. Fortunately, Thompson and McCormack’s chemistry is efficacious as the cool and collected Leo attempts to pacify a flustered and repressed Nancy, who is still struggling with the idea of hiring a sex worker to begin with. Screenwriter Katy Brand keeps the conversations intriguing and as raw as possible. Thompson doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to Nancy’s resentment of the life she’s lived – one filled with obligation, but never satisfaction. McCormack portrays the fantasy of Leo perfectly, but leaves tiny cracks of a real damaged person behind the sexy smile and oozing charisma.
Although Nancy initially comes off as judgemental, we learn it’s only because she is a product of her generation, where sexual desires, especially those of women, were inhibited. Leo, meanwhile, represents the current generation where sexuality is more open, fluid, and lesst defined by labels, including attitudes towards sex work. Their attempts to connect and empathize with each other’s different views allows for great dialogue. When Nancy questions hiring Leo throughout their first meeting because of her perceptions of sex work, it gives him the chance to alleviate her anxieties by explaining that it’s a simple business transaction and that he feels no shame at what he does.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is a delightful story of two strangers finding a connection and celebrating their differences. Their relationship feels so natural and, quite honestly, refreshing. The topic of the female orgasm, sexual pleasure, and self-love is rarely talked about in mainstream films without it resorting to some raunchy rom-com where it is seen as a joke. Instead, the subject is explored here through the lens of a woman who struggled with self-acceptance of her sexuality, wants, and desires – and finally feeling herself after all these years. In a time when society has made women’s bodies into a thing of politics, shying away from the discussion of sex, it’s enlightening to watch a film that embraces it and beautifully portrays what it means to finally love yourself.
About Post Author
