The Reel Review
Two-time Oscar-winner Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility, Howards End) and Daryl McCormack (Peaky Blinders) star in this sex comedy/drama about a retired schoolteacher who hires a male sex worker for some fun, and much needed adventure, two years after the death of her husband.
Thompson’s Nancy is frustrated. She feels life has passed her by. She never had an orgasm in her decades-long marriage and never experienced oral sex. Leo will be her second sex partner ever. As she gets to know him, she realizes she has hit the jackpot of kindness, if only she can put away those unresolved feelings of guilt and shame and enjoy herself. McCormack’s Leo is probably one of the sweetest, most thoughtful sex workers ever.
With a screenplay by British comic actress Katy Brand (Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show) and under the insightful direction of Australian Sophie Hyde, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is a deeply introspective story about human connection and intimacy. Showcasing an amazing on-screen chemistry, Thompson and McCormack hit a home run in this insightful, authentic, sex positive story about removing the ageism out of sex and learning how to embrace and love your body, imperfections and all.
REEL FACTS
• Emma Thompson says her nude scene in the film was “probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.” She says she, director Sophie Hyde and co-star Daryl McCormack rehearsed totally nude, with the two stars spending as much time together as possible for the four weeks of rehearsals to create a level of intimacy that would be felt onscreen.
• Good Luck to You, Leo Grande was filmed in just 19 days and in chronological order.
• Good Luck to You, Leo Grande writer Katy Brand also appeared with Emma Thompson in 2009’s Nanny McPhee Returns.
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