A mature comedy about sex, intimacy and aging, "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande" strikes a delicate note in its handling of subjects that are often mishandled by the movies, when they're even dealt with at all.
Emma Thompson gives a brave, vulnerable and emotionally resonant performance as Nancy Stokes, a widow who hires a sex worker to help her experience the type of sexual fulfillment she never was able to over the course of her long marriage. "Leo Grande" becomes an exploration of pleasure, consent, boundaries and trust, as well as a study of human relationships and the connection, both physical and spiritual, that exists between two people.
Irish actor Daryl McCormack is the Leo Grande of the title, Thompson's dance partner in this two-hander, and he gives a charming, magnetic performance as the man Nancy hires to fulfill her checklist of sexual desires. They meet up in a hotel room but they don't just hop in the sack. Katy Brand's script has them talking, getting to know each other, discussing the lives they've lead that have brought them to this hotel room on this day.
Nancy is understandably nervous, and Thompson plays her with the polite, jittery apprehension of someone who has been repressed her whole life. Leo is the chiseled fantasy whose body and personality is a carefully sculpted act. He's turned himself into a conduit of pleasure, but who is he really, and how much of himself is he willing to share? And what are his limits?
Together they're a marvelous team, and director Sophie Hyde gives them the room to grow and explore and find their own authenticity within the characters, who interact over a series of meetings. Thompson puts the exclamation point on her performance in the closing moments with a bold decision to bare more than her soul. "Leo Grande" is about emotional and physical honesty, and Thompson gives her all in seeking those truths. Bravo.
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'GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE'
Grade: B+
MPAA rating: R (for sexual content, graphic nudity and some language)
Running time: 1:37
How to watch: On Hulu Friday
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