Australian Sophie Hyde gets between the sheets to tell her third feature film. After the wonderful ’52 Tuesdays’ and ‘Wild friendships’, the director explores two delicate themes, female sexuality and male prostitution, in “Good luck, Leo Grande”which reaches commercial theaters and even digital platforms after the good reception at Sundance and the Berlin Film Festival, and in which the director locks Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack in a room where sex will be the door to a series of conversations that will turn the film into a much deeper comedy-drama than appears to the naked eye.
The Oscar winner for ‘Return to Howards End’ and ‘Sense and Sensibility’ gets into the skin of Nancy Stokes, a retired religion teacher who decides to hire the sexual services of an escortwho responds to the name of Leo Grande, to feel a desire that has been preserved for some time, having been married for more than 30 years to a husband who has never been able to satisfy her sexually. A premise that he could have given for a much more conventional comedy that, in a similar way, would have broken several clichés. that Hyde’s film collapses too, but in a completely different way and adding layers of complexity that enrich the story.
Hyde, who directs from a script written by Katy Brand, splits the movie into days, similar to ’52 Tuesday ‘, his acclaimed first feature film for which he won the Best Director award in the World Cinema section of the Sundance Festival. This allows you to elliptically explore the evolution of the characters, so much so that it is logical that, with each new meeting, the confessions and scenes increase. Interestingly, the first date turns out to be the most revealing about Nancy.a guilt-ridden woman who commits the paradoxical act of paying for sexual services and fears that the escort is not part of a network of traffickers.
Slowly, the layers are removed, but thanks to some crisp and accurate dialogue, the mystery gets straight between the two. It is evident that none of them have used their real name and the question remains as to how much truth there is in these confessions, especially in the case of the gigolo. But it is not necessary to stay with the form, but with the background, with which Hyde portrays the sexual repression of which the woman has been (and is). The fact that the protagonist is a retired woman and a widow allows us to see how the most archaic social codes continue to be established and the generation gap that exists between the different ages of females. At one point in the film, Nancy recalls that it was not the same thing as being a woman in a big city like London as in a city where everyone knows each other, which widens the possible inequalities.
Emma Thompson is magnificent and Daryl McCormack is the great find
Deep debate that Hyde leaves in the form of brushstrokes and so on invites “Good Luck, Leo Grande” to be one of those feature films that encourage conversion after viewing. Since it is not only in relation to the sexual repression of women, the film goes much further when it comes to touching uncomfortable taboos, referring to how aesthetic canons create an ambivalence with the body itself and how this has historically been more marked in sex. female. Added to this is the aura of intrigue that the gigolo awakens, whose background is not entirely clear.leaving the public to decide how much truth there is in his words and how much there are lies and seduction.
These confessions, which fascinate for the complexity they take on with each new assignment, are two actors in a state of grace. First of all, it’s time to mention Daryl McCormack, who knows how to convey the strange feeling of a veteran for a young character with too much career behind him. Beyond a dazzling beauty, with feline eyes that merge with the gaze, the actor defends a role that constantly plays the evasion, putting in front of the mirror the most seductive but also the most uncomfortable face of the imagination. Without a doubt, this young promise, who has already distinguished herself in ‘Peaky Blinders’ and ‘Pixie’, aims to follow in the footsteps of Ismael Cruz Córdova or Rami Malek.
McCormack has the great challenge of being up to a great challenge. Emma Thompson delivers a masterful performance. The actress offers one of the best roles in her recent filmography. It is terrific to see the actress of ‘What remains of the day’ as protagonists of the age. Hyde recalls the importance of seeing more stories featuring female characters of a certain age, focusing on the reality of women over 60. All with a touch between drama and humor, shooting the film in an intimate waybut with a certain distance, thus allowing both the protagonists and the public to breathe.
With a nod to “The Graduate”, tremendously explicit, ‘Good luck, Leo Grande’ is the feminine and realistic response to that wonderful story that was ‘Pretty Woman’. A story with an optimistic touch, which, in addition to talking about sex, recalls the importance of feeling one’s autonomy and knowing how to let go. A new cinematic triumph for Hyde, who continues to position himself as one of the most interesting voices in current Australian cinema.
Note: 8
The best: The final scenes. Watch Emma Thompson in a state of grace in a starring role.
Worse: He suffers from a certain naive look towards prostitution which, despite being male, continues to pay for sexual services.
Source: E Cartelera
