Emma Thompson is currently 63 years old. Emma Thompson looks 63 years old. I’m not saying she looks bad. In fact, she looks fabulous. But she is 63 years old and she does look it. And she opted for an explicit role as a widow seeking sexual experiences with a professional. Bold.
Hold up a sec. Don’t get too titillated. My description of the film isn’t incorrect, but you might infer from it some sort of 9½ Weeks for the 3,000+ week club. The decidedly hot and steamy stuff is a different film. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande plays more like My Dinner with Andre if Wallace and Andre met in hotel room for sex chat. The film isn’t entirely bereft of sexual activity, but it’s gonna take its own sweet time getting there. Neither director Sophie Hyde nor Nancy (Thompson) is in a hurry to get anywhere, regardless of what he dialogue.
This film is a compilation of no fewer than four meetings between professional escort Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack) and Nancy in the upscale London hotel room she’s rented. Leo is presented as –I imagine- everything one looks for in an escort. He’s handsome, young, cut, attractive, amiable, communicative … he’s also patient, kind, attentive, reassuring, and decent. It’s good to know the “hooker with a heart of gold” cliché doesn’t limit itself to women.
Nancy is a widow. She has never had an orgasm. Her late husband, the only sexual partner she’s ever known, didn’t exactly help out in that department. For Nancy’s life, sex has been performative, one-sided, and dull. Now she wants to experience something she’s been missing. But she doesn’t really know what she wants past that. And she’s understandably nervous about the whole thing. Not many people beyond a certain age opt for sexual partner #2. And so while Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is sexually explicit –more-or-less- it’s also a talkie. Talkie, talkie, talkie. Before you get to anything more risqué than Sears Catalog, you will learn about Nancy … and Nancy’s hang-ups … and Nancy’s kids … and Nancy’s life … and Nancy’s past life … and Leo … and Leo’s demeanor … and Leo’s approach to his work … and Leo’s family … and the lies he tells them.
None of this is 
bad, mind you. I think the script is more plus than minus; but if you’re looking for a hot ‘n’ steamy swelter, this ain’t it, chief.
There’s a dynamic here that you just don’t see or imagine if the roles are reversed. Picture a sixty-something man soliciting a twenty-something female escort: do you see them engaged in philosophical dialogue or defining self-worth? I could see her using ego boosting techniques, but I don’t see either of them seeking to justify their actions or roles, do you? The best thing this film does is humanize both Nancy and Leo. There’s a societal stigma against sex work from both ends. This isn’t exactly disappearing given our current state of political noise from the Right. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande presents a “no shame necessary” narrative. In fact, the only problem with the presentation is that the intimacy in the film still periodically comes off as transactional in nature. The stigma for our moral disapproval doesn’t exist; my intellectual disapproval, however? That’s a different story.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande also seems to ignore the obvious Oedipal Complex it unravels. Look film, I didn’t make your characters be mother-son age. And I sure as Hell didn’t present “the mother” as being disappointed by her own biological son and “the son” being a disappointment to his biological mother and suddenly finding comfort in each other. You did that all on your own and expected us either not to connect the dots or say, “so, they’re like a more ideal mother and son … and they’re having transactional sex; I’m ok with that.” I liked the dialogue in this film. I applaud the bravery of Emma Thompson for baring what she had to in order that the film may work, OTOH, the film lacks steam and explores controversy where, honestly, there shouldn’t be much. Overall, I give the film tepid approval, but I wouldn’t pay top dollar for this piece of entertainment, certainly not escort prices to be sure.
An old bugger ran out of sexual friends
And decided to explore some new trends
Would their adventure be imperil
When they removed their apparel
For the surprises to be found there? Depends.
Rated R, 97 Minutes
Director: Sophie Hyde
Writer: Katy Brand
Genre: Sex with *gasp* an old woman!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Sexually active women of a certain age
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Prudes
