Celebrating sexual liberation and prostitution: Good Luck To You, Leo Grande review | Films | Entertainment

The story plays out almost entirely against the visually uninteresting backdrop of a soulless hotel room where Emma Thompson’s retired RE teacher intends to liberate her libido with the help of handsome, twentysomething male sex worker Leo Grande (Peaky Blinders actor Daryl McCormack).

Both of them are using assumed names. The teacher has booked under the pseudonym Nancy Stokes but her real name is Mrs Robinson, an obvious gag that shouldn’t have survived the first draft.

The young man is Irish and has told his Catholic mother he works on an oil rig. He has a sad backstory and considers smooth-talking Leo to be a fictional character he plays for work.

Nancy’s husband died two years ago. He is the only man she ever slept with and she has never had an orgasm.

Under Leo’s instruction, she intends to discover what she has been missing, efficiently and following a very detailed timetable.

We know all this because Nancy seems intent on wasting most of her three sessions of soul searching and needlessly quizzing the hunk about his personal life.

Occasionally, she bursts into tears. Sometimes, she gets very angry. Nancy is a mass of contradictions and Thompson navigates them effortlessly.

The main source of Brand’s comedy is the clash between the prim, conservative client and the confident, free-spirited sex worker.

There are amusing lines but the conflict doesn’t create quite enough tension to sustain a 90-minute drama.

Of course, no paying punter will disagree with the film’s message about finding sexual fulfilment. The edgiest scenes involve discussions about legalising prostitution.

At the end of her journey, Nancy decides sex workers should work legally and be paid for by the state. And I’m having trouble finding an NHS dentist.

Certified 15, In cinemas now