Movie Review The Naked Honesty of 'Good Luck to You Leo Grande'

Good Luck to You Leo Grande is the kind of movie that causes you to evaluate yourself, where you are in life, and how you feel about yourself. It’s also a delightful comedy about an older woman and the sex worker she hires to try and break out of her shell. Myself, I was drawn to the more introspective side of things but if you watch this movie just for the delight of Emma Thompson and her magnetic chemistry with newcomer Daryl McCormack, that works just as well.

Good Luck to You Leo Grande stars Emma Thompson as Nancy Stokes, a college professor, a mother of two, and a widow. For the first time since her stuffy husband died, Nancy wants to have an adventure, specifically a sexual adventure. Thus why she sought out a service that connects women like her with male escorts willing and able to fulfill fantasies. Nancy chose Leo Grande (McCormack), not his real name, out of a group of potential escorts.

Now, the question becomes will she go through with it. As Nancy frets in her hotel room in London, a relaxed and composed Leo arrives, neatly dressed, handsome and patient. Leo may be much younger than Nancy but he’s been in this position many times before and has a kind and caring approach to patiently allowing Nancy to fret over doing something as frowned upon as hiring someone for sex. Their first encounter is very talky and all over the place as Nancy waffles over whether she can actually go through with having sex with this kind stranger.

This will be one of four times these two will meet for what comes to play out like therapy sessions. Nancy frets and Leo listens and evades. Leo doesn’t want to talk about himself and has a practiced manner of evading personal questions, despite Nancy’s persistence. It is this persistence that sets the stage for the third act break up of our friendly duo and it’s a well put together and complicated conflict that sets up for a satisfying and very revealing conclusion.

Good Luck to You Leo Grande was directed by Sophie Hyde from a script by actress turned screenwriter Katy Brand. Hyde directs with an eye toward elegance that is punctured by the inelegant anxiety surrounding our innate discomfort and shame over sex and sexuality. Nancy in shambles over what she’s decided to do, a mixture of intoxicating fear and exhilaration. All of that plays out under the surface of Emma Thompson’s incredibly dignified composure, the perfect canvas for Hyde and Brand to paint a messy and beautiful masterpiece of a character.

But this is not a one woman show. Newcomer Daryl McCormack rises to the occasion in Good Luck to You Leo Grande. He’s working alongside a legend giving a magnificent performance and he matches her energy with a serene calm and unforced charisma that is exciting to watch. McCormack too has a strong surface, a masculine beauty that belies a young man struggling with the many lies he tells to cover up what he does for a living. Watch the way he deftly deflects Nancy’s personal questions before she begins to wear him down. It’s a terrifically subtle piece of work.

Much has been made of Emma Thompson’s nudity in Good Luck to You Leo Grande. Women in their 60s aren’t typically asked to perform nude scenes. When they are, it’s often like the horror movie Hereditary where the nudity of senior citizens is effectively used to reveal how nothing happening in these scenes can be easily explained, it’s foreign and forbidden. The nudity in Good Luck to You Leo Grande is innately sexual. It’s not necessarily about titillation but rather about a woman fully revealing herself for the first time and coming to terms with who she is and where she is in life.

The nudity is never played for laughs, not even awkward uncomfortable laughs. The nudity is intentional, it has a purpose. Being nude in the movie is symbolic of self discovery, of self reflection and healing. The nudity is about saying this is who I am and that’s okay. It’s a rather lovely use of nudity in a movie. It’s all part of the charming and intelligent package that is Good Luck to You Leo Grande.

Good Luck to You Leo Grande debuted on Hulu on June 17th, 2022.