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Spectator
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Emma Thompson is wrong about sex
I watched most of Good Luck to You, Leo Grande when it was on TV some months back. I wondered whether to write something about it. But I can't write about every representation of sex that offends me. Who am I – Mary Whitehouse? Thankfully Dame Emma Thompson, the star of that film, has now handed me an opportunity. Can I first say something about her? I can't stick her. Is she a good actress? I don't know. I can't tell – it seems to me that she leaks her personality into every role. In Sense and Sensibility it seemed she was merging the character of Elinor Dashwood with the character of Emma Thompson, the famous self-righteous know-it-all celebrity, and I did not want such a merger. Actors are meant to get their own personalities out of the way, aren't they? I can't think of any other roles except for the sad wife in Love Actually, a film I greatly despise. So, in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, an annoyingly named film, Emma merges her personality with that of a retired teacher who, though married, has never been sexually satisfied, and so engages a young male prostitute. She is oh so English, oh so awkward, oh so middle-class, and oh so brave for pursuing her desires despite the cultural weight of repression. Her dialogue is full of sub-Alan Bennett stuff about wondering whether she should be shopping at Waitrose – a distraction from the fact that the prostitute is about to have sex with her. The young man, by the way, is a paragon of modern sensitivity – a male tart with a heart, even a sort of gentle Jesus figure for our day. At one point she calls him a 'sex saint'. Maybe the film is written by Richard Curtis – I can't be bothered to find out. Whether or not is it, Emma has been, in a sense. Meaning that her screen persona is a product of his claim to portray the English soul in a modern way. It is a bogus claim – but I am making enough enemies for one day. It is excruciating to watch this woman being very polite between bouts of sex – but not excruciating in the edgy way the film intends. It is excruciating because one is being preached at by thickos. The message is this: sex is just sex, it's a human need like having a good dentist – but more profound. So we should ditch the moralistic idea that sex belongs in long-term relationships, that casual sex and paid-for sex are somehow wrong. Emma herself has now underlined this message. At a screening of the film – presumably for some 'charity' event – the dame explained that sex is very good for one's health and wellbeing: 'It should really be on the NHS. It should. It's so good for you.' She claimed that some of her older, lonelier friends had started to hire escorts, just like the brave lady in the film. She added: 'We need to learn about our own response to: 'What if when you're unwell, you can't make connections, but you need sex?'' Therefore, she said, sex-workers should not be stigmatised: they are 'just like accountants – sex workers are doing a job'. She is oh so English, oh so awkward, oh so middle-class, and oh so brave for pursuing her desires despite the cultural weight of repression OK, deep breath. And apologies if you have heard this before from me – in relation to Lily Phillips or some smutty reality show on Channel 4. Sex is quite complicated. In fact, it is two things. It is a strong human appetite – one that we notoriously share with lesser creatures, in fact. And it is also the almost-opposite of this: an act of commitment to one person, with whom one enjoys great psychological intimacy – for whom one forgoes the anarchic-appetite side of sex. We could call this sex in the full sense. The duality is difficult and confusing. People like Dame Emma – and whoever wrote the film – who very strongly assume themselves to be very intelligent, are advised to tread a bit more carefully. Am I saying that casual sex and paid-for sex are 'wrong'? Not quite – but I am saying that they are different from sex in the full sense: sex accompanied by long-term psychological intimacy. Casual sex and paid-for sex are ambiguous at best; only sex in the full sense is worthy of celebration. The fault of the film, and of Dame Emma's remarks, is that the boundary is blurred, and its message is muddled. The film implies that it is psychologically healthy and liberating to detach sex from commitment – to treat it as a mere physical need. But on the other hand, it places a lot of emphasis on the therapeutic nature of the encounter – on the young man's sensitivity, on the woman's sense of gaining a sort of enlightenment as she at last tastes carnal pleasure. So it is subtly disingenuous: it implies that an emotional and even spiritual connection is part of 'good sex', even as it preaches liberation from boring old relationships. Our culture needs to think about sex more.
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Dame Emma Thompson urges doctors to recommend sex
Dame Emma Thompson believes that sex should be recommended by health professionals. The 66-year-old actress has urged Britain's National Health Service (NHS) to recommend intimacy to couples at a screening of her film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande – in which she plays a widowed teacher who explores her sexuality with the help of a male escort. Speaking during a Q+A at The Kiln Theatre in London, Emma said: "We need to learn about our own response to: what if when you're unwell, you can't make connections, but you need sex? "You need sex because it's part of our health plan, if you like. It should really be on the NHS. It should. It's so good for you." The Love Actually star also discussed how the 2022 movie, in which she featured alongside Daryl McCormack, has inspired her female friends to make matters between the sheets into their own hands. Emma explained: "Since the film came out, quite a number of older friends of mine have done that – they've hired escorts." The Nanny McPhee actress argues that sex work should be recognised as legitimate job instead of being stigmatised. She said: "Daryl spoke to a lot of sex workers. And the thing he learned most was they were just like accountants. Sex workers are doing a job. "He made this discovery also about the way in which it's viewed. Katy (Brand, the film's writer) had come from a country in which it is legal; I come from a background where I've worked with a lot of people who have been trafficked, so I have very complicated views about sex work. "I understand that there are lots of different angles that you can come at it. For instance, in Sweden now, men who buy sex are criminalised. Sex workers aren't criminalised, the buyer is. "People have views about that. We used to have a trafficking unit in this country – we don't have it anymore, it was absolved into the vice squad (police units dealing with sex work, trafficking and drugs). "Sex work and trafficking are two very different things but they're often conflated and it's not understood partly because it's not documented. So no one knows about men who buy sex because it's hidden."
Metro
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Dame Emma Thompson calls on the NHS to recommend sex as a 'health plan'
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Dame Emma Thompson wants us to all be more sex positive and believes it should be 'on the NHS' as part of a health plan. The 66-year-old icon was speaking at a live Q&A before a screening of Good Luck to You, Leo Grande at The Kiln Theatre in North West London. The 2022 comedy follows Dame Emma as retired teacher Nancy who hires a male sex worker Leo Grande, played by Daryl McCormack, after the death of her husband. The Love Actually legend discussed how the role impacted her thoughts on sex as well as encouraging her friends to take control of their own pleasure. 'We need to learn about our own response to: what if when you're unwell, you can't make connections, but you need sex?' Emma said, according to the Daily Mail. 'You need sex because it's part of our health plan, if you like. It should really be on the NHS. It should. It's so good for you.' The Oscar winning actress shared: 'It's very good to be able to give yourself an orgasm when you need one. And for women, it is notoriously difficult. In fact, the stats are quite alarming. It really is much harder than you think. 'One of the things that really surprised me when the film came out was the number of young women who told me they'd never had an orgasm.' Rallying against the pressure to 'perform' and 'achieve', Dame Emma vented about society 'endlessly getting at us about this goddamn thing that we're supposed to achieve.' 'Why do we do that?,' she asked. 'That's such a stupid verb. An orgasm is not an achievement. It's a beautiful, healthy expansion of your body in a moment of time.' Good Luck To You, Leo Grande was praised for the care with which it tackled the usually taboo subjects of sex, escorts and older women's sexuality. Often, we don't discuss sex as we age, with shows and films rarely featuring intimacy for anyone above the age of 35. Dame Emma appearing completely nude on screen was considered a radical moment in the movie by many. 'Since the film came out, quite a number of older friends of mine have done that – they've hired escorts,' the star revealed. 'Daryl spoke to a lot of sex workers,' she continued. 'And the thing he learned most was they were just like accountants. Sex workers are doing a job.' Dame Emma appealed for the legitimising of sex work as a profession in the UK and worldwide, in hopes of de-stigmatising and making it safer for those involved. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video However, the Sense and Sensibility star admitted her own view of sex work is 'complicated' as she has worked with the UN on issues of human trafficking. She compared her experience to that of Katy Brand, the film's writer, who had 'come from a country in which it is legal'. 'I understand that there are lots of different angles that you can come at it,' continued Dame Emma. 'For instance, in Sweden now, men who buy sex are criminalised. Sex workers aren't criminalised, the buyer is. 'People have views about that. We used to have a trafficking unit in this country – we don't have it anymore, it was absorbed into the vice squad [police units dealing with sex work, trafficking and drugs].' She emphasised that sex work and trafficking are 'two very different things' but are 'often conflated', which is often detrimental. More Trending The Nanny McPhee star added: 'It's not understood partly because it's not documented. So no one knows about men who buy sex because it's hidden.' Prostitution is legal in the UK between consenting adults, however, other related aspects such as soliciting in public or running a brothel are illegal. 'Sex workers are a little more vocal now and very strong on what they think needs to happen and they're the people we need to listen to,' Dame Emma added. She hoped Good Luck To You, Leo Grande could be a springboard from which wider conversations around sex positivity could grow. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you.
