GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE (Cert 15, 99 mins, Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK Ltd, Comedy/Drama/Romance, available now via Premium Video On Demand rental, available from September 12 on Amazon/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, also available from September 12 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99) Starring: Emma Thompson, Daryl McCormack, Isabella Laughland.
FORMER RE teacher Nancy Stokes (Emma Thompson) has only one notch on her bedpost – her late husband – and, for 31 unremarkable years, their nocturnal couplings never made the headboard move.
"I made a decision after my husband died never to fake an orgasm again," she politely explains to sex worker Leo (Daryl McCormack), who Nancy hires for one night of furtive self-discovery.
Initial awkwardness melts as Leo charms Nancy to better understand her physical needs, raising a toast "to being empirically sexy" with champagne from the hotel minibar.
Their free-flowing conversation touches upon fantasies and desires (Nancy has an achievable checklist) and the widow discovers herself in Leo's excellent company.
Set almost entirely in a well-appointed hotel room, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande is a sensual, empowering and thoroughly feel-fabulous comedy drama, which champions the power of human connection.
Isabella Laughland appears briefly as one of Nancy's former pupils but Sophie Hyde's picture is essentially a two-hander that relishes the verbal foreplay between richly drawn characters at very different stages of their lives.
Thompson is luminous, laying herself bare in every sense as Nancy crosses a threshold to vulnerability in a safe space of her own choosing.
Chemistry with McCormack sizzles, building to a simple yet devastatingly effective scene of acceptance and glowing self-appreciation.
Despite the provocative subject matter, scriptwriter Katy Brand sidesteps mere titillation to address timely issues of body self-image, shame and sex positivity head-on.
Dialogue occasionally fakes an orgasm in pursuit of a punchline, but missteps are exceedingly rare.
Rating: 4/5
AMERICAN GIGOLO (10 episodes, starts streaming from September 10 exclusively on Paramount+, Thriller/Romance)
IN 1980, Richard Gere set pulses racing as a high-end male escort in writer-director Paul Schrader's gritty thriller American Gigolo, which featured full-frontal male nudity and Call Me by Blondie as a main theme song.
A TV series developed by David Hollander centres on the same central character, sex worker Julian Kaye (Jon Bernthal), after he has served 15 years in prison for a wrongful murder conviction.
Released back into a modern-day Los Angeles he barely recognises, Julian rebuilds bridges with former lover Michelle (Gretchen Mol) and his mother, aided by best friend and mentor Lorenzo (Wayne Brady).
Detective Sunday (Rosie O'Donnell) is determined to uncover the truth about the murder that sent Julian to prison and her wide-ranging investigation unearths a larger conspiracy.
Past and present become dangerously blurred as Julian returns to work and Detective Sunday's tough questions require uncomfortable answers from self-made tech billionaire Richard Stratton (Leland Orser) and sex ring doyenne Isabelle (Lizzie Brochere).
