This movie about buying and selling sex is as clear as a standard essay, without a single burr, and the spring water without lust in the clothes reaches the conclusion of self-liberation and self-sufficiency, which is amazing. If eroticism was such a simple and straightforward thing that could be learned and controlled, there would be no human stories.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande takes place in a very safe environment. Emma Thompson's widow Nancy buys the services of a young male prostitute, Leo (Darryl McCormack), after a long and tedious life with her partner's only marriage. Leo is here, as perfect as the male god who walked down from Mount Olympus, and has an incredible ability to penetrate people's hearts.

"Good Luck, Rio Grande" poster

The focus of the film is to discuss lust, not to practice it. Nancy and Leo have a lot of conversations, always following their own patterns: Nancy cares about Leo's real personality and life, and wonders where he came from; Leo plays the role of a psychiatrist, capturing Leo, who is constantly in self-doubt. Xi, asked her: "What do you desire? What are you afraid of? What rules make you think now?"
More precisely, this is a film that explores the formation of erotic views. To be on the safe side, the writers set the most "excusable" characters for Nancy and Leo. Nancy used to be a religious teacher, conservative, low-key, strict in her work, no ambition or passion. Deep down, she felt that her son was as boring as her husband, "I can predict what they do". Contrary to her son, Nancy's hippie daughter's life is too exciting and troublesome to deal with. Her relationship with her daughter contained the jealousy and unhappiness that are common between mothers and daughters. Leo also has mother issues. When he was 15 years old, he held a sex party with his classmates, and was kicked out of the house after being caught by his mother. He's an outcast, a fringe, with a mix of professional pride and shame.
The screenwriter laid a thick layer of sponge protection for the sex, making it difficult for the audience to dislike these two people. We can fully understand that Nancy, who bought sex after her husband lost her husband, could easily fall in love with Leo, who is very professional about her work.
In this hotel room with a view, the two rationally discussed the formation of Nancy's view of eroticism-the background of the times, the education they received, and the marriage experience. The screenwriter avoided the most important and most difficult part, weaving stereotyped character backgrounds for the characters, trying to solve the mystery by tracing the source. During the dialogue, the audience gets to learn about Nancy's sexual frustration and embrace the "how wonderful sex" spirit of indulgence.

Screenshot of "Good Luck, Rio Grande"

However, after knowing what was holding back Nancy's orgasm (a role she never had), the push to go deeper also faded. Sex is frozen in the image of bliss and nothing else.
It's not surprising that the thrust disappears, because in the ramblings and the frivolous sex, the power relationship between the sex buyer and the sex seller is constantly adjusted, and finally reaches the point of complete equality.
Leo, who has youth and a perfect body and appearance, is like a human without flaws because he has a smart, curious, listening and understanding heart. The dignity and control he displays in his work, combined with a good income (his services are expensive), has given the character a higher position than the most senior courtesan in the long history of the human sex trade.
Like a god, he looked at Nancy, whose body was slack and her youth was gone, with pity, and he enjoyed the worship and gratitude of Nancy and other spring buyers for him. Their pleasurable response to Leo was the best aphrodisiac for him. He's like a "sex saint" (Nancy is right), condescending to the mortal world to bless all beings.

"Good Luck, Rio Grande" stills

When it comes to their families, Nancy's disappointment with her children echoes Leo's mother's disappointment with him. They find empathy in each other's family of origin, and empathy leads them to friendship, perhaps mixed with mother and child emotions.
Equality, carefully formulated like a chemical experiment, idealized this love affair. The shadowless lamp illuminates everything clearly, flawlessly and without shadows. The only dramatic conflict between the two seemed blunt, as if the screenwriter wanted to paint a human shadow for the perfect Leo, and he let him walk away after being fleshed out by Nancy. Much like the mythical plot of a fairy who was annoyed after being found out and disappeared without a trace.
More deliberate designs are yet to come. The pockets of sex were originally filled with old age, women, loneliness, etiquette, impulsiveness, desire for a youthful body, and many other things, but they were fastened with the right satin ribbon.
The film's theme of understanding the body, liberating the body, and enjoying the body's pleasure is very clear. It is bound by the theme, only to reach this conclusion smoothly in the end. This theme has had a vigorous practice in Europe and the United States when the heroine was young. Although the slogans are similar, there is at least something in the hippie movement that is slutty, rude, self-serving, has no head and no tail, and comes and goes without a trace. They merge with "peace and love" for a doomed but far-reaching physical enlightenment. Fifty years later, the film's performance of sexual liberation is too clean and unsullied, like a tedious exhortation story of a lost female believer who is rescued by a male saint.
Finally, Nancy undressed in the mirror, revealing her self-deprecating body with extra thick thighs and a bulging belly, and smiled. Before that, she finally found the code to achieve orgasm with her own hands, and she will reach a new realm of life that is "full of energy and self-confidence like never before". At this moment, the audience can share with her the peaceful joy of accepting her own body, and she is still a little stunned by the sudden enlightenment.
In this way, the film smoothly goes from "what hinders the orgasm" to the consummation of "the significance of sexual satisfaction to life". Sex became a sparkling, life-changing key. This simple way of dealing with complex problems can be described by Leo's stunning Nancy word "reductive".

"Good Luck, Rio Grande" stills

It's fantasy, filling a large section of the road omitted in the middle. Nancy repeatedly tries to touch Leo's authenticity as she lives out her sexual fantasies. She wanted to frame her fantasy with a "complete" Leo, a complete person, not just a male prostitute in this professional act of the moment.
Perhaps fantasy can also lead to reality, into the unfathomable well of sexuality. When Leo describes his various clients, he touches on some of its complex aspects, such as people who need him to get things done quickly without a word, people who just want to hold hands with him to watch TV, people who want him to dress up as a cat. people, all kinds. Orgasm is a moment in the world, and it is also a continuous variation in life.
Wanting to take another look at the well, the screenwriter used Leo's perfection and Nancy's rationality and introspection to work together to weave a splendid net to cover the well.
In the vast majority of mammals, libido also subsides after infertility. Human beings have unreasonably evolved into a mode of wasting energy, and they still retain their sexual needs for a long time between the loss of sexual desire and death. Sexual desire has become an important part of human nature. It is farthest from the qualities of reason, logic, and restraint that modern people are proud of, but it is the driving force for most human behaviors.
Sex is mysterious, powerful, and hard to control. It deserves respect and exploration, and should not be reduced to, tamed as a secret skill that can be bestowed by gods or god-like beings. Nancy's smile is touching, and Emma Thompson's acting is as good as ever, and she makes Nancy's courage and withdrawal, sensitivity and candor, and self-acceptance even more touching. Finally Nancy said goodbye to Leo and wished him good luck. After the dual healing of her mind and body, her life problems were resolved and she was ready to start the second half of her journey.
It's the best blessing this movie can give, pale but as delicious as summer ice cream. As a friend said, "It's enough to make people happy. After all, there are not many works to please middle-aged and elderly women."