Emma Thompson

In a twist on the usual May-December romantic fiction trope, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande casts Emma Thompson as a retired religious education teacher who hires a sex worker to explore her never awakened sexual desires. Her gigolo of choice is about as far as it's possible to get from the sleazy, damaged hustler familiar from Jon Voight's turn in Midnight Cowboy though. In a modern age where high-end sex workers sell an experience via an app (and expect a modicum of understanding and respect from their clients), Thompso''s character, the pseudonymous Nancy, first meets the titular Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack) in a smart hotel room, where she babbles nervously about his impressive vocabulary and her own sexual deficiencies while he calmly talks to her like a therapist trying to work through why she's never been able to achieve an orgasm.

It's all very civilised and director Sophie Hyde, working from a script by British TV comedian and writer Katy Brand, shoots it like a British romantic comedy, with some of the attendant stiltedness those films have. But as the characters get more intimate, so too does the film, with McCormack and, especially, Thompson cutting through the film's more mechanical execution to deliver rounded portraits of people yearning for human connection in a judgmental world.

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Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack interview

Dame Emma Thompson wants to talk about sex. It's all because of her new film Good Luck To You, Leo Grande. In it she plays a widow in search of sexual fulfilment. Relative newcomer Daryl McCormack plays the sex worker she hires to help her in her quest. The BBC's Alex Stanger went to meet them.

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande review

It is a rite-of-passage story made with humour and sensitivity.

Film review: Good Luck To You, Leo Grande

Emma Thompson shines in a complex comedy of sexcapades.

Sundance Film Festival 2022 review: Good Luck To You, Leo Grande

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande is a warm and emotionally intelligent picture that tackles its themes of sex and self with an unwavering honesty.

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande review

Emma Thompson gives an emotionally generous performance as a former teacher seeking sexual gratification in an amusing and compassionate two-hander.

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