CINEMA: Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

Nancy Stokes (Emma Thompson), a retired schoolteacher and widow, is yearning for some adventure, some human connection, and some sex. Good sex.

Whilst her husband Robert provided a home, a family, and something resembling a life, good sex was never on offer. But he’s gone now, and Nancy has a plan: she will find adventure with a sex worker named Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack). In an anonymous hotel room Nancy greets Leo. He looks every bit as good as his picture, but what Nancy wasn’t expecting was conversation as well as fornication.

Leo has a view on everything, and though he may not always tell the truth, Nancy finds she likes him. And he likes her. With growing sexual confidence, Nancy starts to relax. Over the course of three rendezvous, the power dynamics shift and their well-worn masks begin to slip.