Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
**Seen at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
Emma Thompson is simply a treasure. At this point, that doesn’t need to be said, but whatever one watches her in, she’s a delight. I think my first time watching her was “Much Ado About Nothing,” and that certainly made an impression. Over the years, “Sense and Sensibility” and “Love Actually” and even the “Harry Potter” films have given her a chance to do a wide variety of things. When I first read the premise of “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande,” I immediately went back to her “Love Actually” character, whom realizes her husband is having an affair in slow-motion. In the opening scene with her schoolteacher in Sophie Hyde’s film, I imagine this as her “Love Actually” character, trying to find what made her special again after the inevitable break-up. What happens in Hyde’s film, however, is so much richer in what it does. I was immediately won over.
The progression of the opening shots of each meeting between Nancy Stokes (Thompson’s character) and Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack), the sex worker she has hired, shows a progression of the relationship that feels natural. Nancy is recently widowed, and she’s looking to find some sexual satisfaction after years of going through the motions with her husband prior to his death. This isn’t just said in the film, however, but is almost pulled out of Nancy by Leo, who’s trying to get her to relax. For him, it’s about what his client wants, and while she very much wants sex, he can also tell that she’s nervous. The age gap between them is an issue for her; whether him telling her he’s been with someone older is true or not, it definitely helps her calm down. The film is simply about the two of them, and the back and forth that they have.
Katy Brand’s screenplay reveals details about these characters when necessary to move the film forward, but one of the things that’s interesting about “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” is that sex is more discussed than performed. When you think about, that’s the right approach for this film. Leo is more than just a sex worker for Nancy, but a therapist. He’s trying to get her to reveal her anxieties, and why she’s wanting to do this. He’s not judgmental, though; she can be, but she’s also being a fastidious teacher, in a way; for her, her mind just keeps getting in the way. The back and forth between Thompson and McCormack in just the first meeting of this film is worth watching it for alone. There are four meetings between the characters; I’ll just say this- when they start by talking to one another, the meeting turns out better than when they don’t.
Hyde’s film is one that looks at sex work as a positive, as well as a complicated, profession. In a way, teaching is almost put in a more negative light, because Nancy grew up thinking things that a lot of people instinctively think about sex, and she has let those things get in the way of an open mind. Leo is just the right teacher for Nancy. She needs to instruction he has to offer. Regardless of how we feel about the trade, I think Hyde realizes a lot of us could, as well, and has created a charming and entertaining film to teach us how to leave our overthinking at the door, and just relax.
