Stanko's Stance

“Nancy Stokes, a retired school teacher, is yearning for some adventure, and some sex. And she has a plan, which involves hiring a young sex worker named Leo Grande.”

Director: Sophie Hyde
Writer: Katy Brand
Starring: Emma Thompson, Daryl McCormack, Isabella Laughland
Release Date: June 17, 2022
IMDB

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande (2022) was the second half of a Hulu binge, following The Boy Downstairs (2017). Two very different movies that share a similar theme. Both of these dramas are about coming to grip with the past and moving forward. In Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, Emma Thompson places Nancy Stokes, an older woman who is trying to make up for lost time with new experiences. In The Boy Downstairs, the main character is a young woman who thinks she wants to bring back a happy moment from the past, not knowing that time changes perspective and people.

Now that I have strung the two films together with a very thin connective thread, let’s actually dive into Good Luck To You, Leo Grande.

Nancy Stokes is a retired school teacher looking to spice up life and make up for lost time. She has hired a professional sex worker by the name of Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack) to hopefully experience new sensations that she has lived without. Nancy comes into this with a fool-proof 200 step plan and is stressed about working through it effectively. Leo and his calm, cool, charismatic aura urges Nancy to slow her brain down and enjoy the moments.

Nancy and Leo meet up multiple times and their dynamic changes with each session. Their version of foreplay is philosophical verbal chatter. Nancy focuses on making up for lost time and trying to get to know Leo on a more personal level. Eventually she pushes the wrong buttons and Leo, despite his seemingly endless patience. snaps .

The moment of dispute seems like the classic romantic comedy pitfall that’s eventually smoothed over before a happy ending. Good Luck To You, Leo Grande does not fit into that genre and its tropes, and having the unique tone it does help this tone have a bit more of an oh damn effect. There is no guarantee that Nancy and Leo are going to reconcile. These aren’t young love birds yet to experience life. They have personal values they strongly believe in, and forgiveness for betraying those values grows harder as life goes on.

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande isn’t a comedy, but it isn’t a pure drama either. It has a playful attitude while dealing with some serious overarching themes. The successful parts of the story are all a credit to Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack and their chemistry together. For a movie that revolves around sex, the best moments of the film don’t involve any moments of physical contact.

A fun bit of trivia surrounding Good Luck To You, Leo Grande is that they filmed the film in sequential order and there was not an intimacy coordinator on set. Instead of a typical preparation schedule, the two stars decided to have their own unique approach to make their unique on screen relationship seem more real.

Daryl McCormack, being a relative newcomer to the media landscape, had to absolutely love the one-on-one time with Emma Thompson. McCormack earned the trust of Thmopson, one of Britain’s most beloved actresses…ever? The two basically dated for four weeks and got to know each other in a way that a normal couple would. Imagine having four weeks to pick the brain and talent of Emma Thompson? 

And guess what; the personal preparation between the two ended up being well worth it. The best moments in Good Luck To You, Leo Grande were the parts where the two very different minded personalities sat on the couch and tried to dissect one another psychologically. It wasn’t so much of trying to get the upper hand on one another, but I loved the stubborn devil’s advocacy that Nancy brought to the party. These verbal spats were well written and paced with the frantic pace of Nancy trying to make herself comfortable and Leo’s slow drawl wearing her down.

While the sensitivity of the movie was lost on me, the entertainment value still hit me in spurts. The bravery of Emma Thompson is evident. She has to be very vulnerable for this movie to work and she goes to the proper lengths for it to get the movie’s message across. She is quoted as saying that the nudity scene was “probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”

One can easily believe that.

I opened up the IMDB page for Good Luck To You, Leo Grande after finishing the movie and was rather surprised to see that it was nominated for four BAFTA awards. It was nominated for Outstanding British Film Of The Year, Outstanding Debut, Best Leading Actress and Best Leading Actor.

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande is streaming on Hulu.

STANKO RATING: C+