I very rarely review films like Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, and even though it is because I love the allure of big action-based films but it should also be noted that I have a deep appreciation of independent cinema too. Filmmaker Sophie Hyde does not have a lot of credits to her name and her last film, Animals, was such an impressive character study that when I heard that she had a new film coming out it was immediately on my radar. Filmed during the pandemic, which shows in the film as it is largely set in one place and with a small handful of actors, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande feels small, intimate and extremely confined in the best way possible.
The film explores a series of taboo topics surrounding sex which includes male sex workers, ageism in relation to sex, the age gap between sexual partners and many more. The focus is pretty much on Emma Thompson’s character of Nancy a former religious education teacher and has been widowed for a little over two years. Nancy hires the titular sex worker Leo Grande, a false name to protect his real one, who is played with charisma, charm and candour by the talented Daryl McCormack who deserves so much credit for holding his own against Emma Thompson within the film. At the start Nancy is apprehensive about going through with it but she eventually, albeit slowly, opens up more to the fact that she deserves sex as much as anyone else.
The two-handed nature of the story does make the film feel like a play at times, especially when a well-timed phone call takes place that disturbs the mood, but this works very well thanks to the script. The pacing is spot-on with a series of hurdles constantly present across their relationship in the hotel room. There are questions that audiences like myself would have about the role of a male sex worker, let alone a young one, and what their job entails (well, apart from the obvious!). The film does a delicate job of shining a light on the good parts and the bad parts of Leo Grande’s profession, especially in relation to how it affects his personal life. It is moments like these where the film really pulls through, and at no point do you feel like the story is slow or attempts to go off-course.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is a fantastic insight into a world that is often overlooked on the big screen, and the world I am referring to is sex. A few years ago sex would often be the central point of high school comedies or romance films. In this day and age we are exploring sex in new and exciting ways with television shows such as Sex Education, Bridgerton and Everything I Know About Love highlighting sex through the eyes of different people of different ages. It is refreshing then that we have a film like this that feels light-hearted and poignant and shares the same ethos as those shows. So don’t be turned away from the sexual nature of the film, you should instead embrace it and I guarantee that you will enjoy the film much more for it.
★★★★☆
4/5
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is a superb film and it works on so many levels due to the minimalist nature of the story, despite the theatrical qualities it shares. Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack have tremendous chemistry and their characters feel so real that you feel absorbed into their world. From start to finish the film explores important questions in relation to sex and its message is clear — sex is normal, we all do it and we all enjoy different aspects to it, and that is nothing to be ashamed off.
Thanks for reading today’s blog!
Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions
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