In “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” — which recently premiered at Sundance and is screening at the Berlinale — there’s a powerful scene in which a 50-something woman played by Emma Thompson stands in front of a mirror, taking in her naked body. It celebrates the beauty of women’s bodies at any age, free of the male gaze, while implicitly pushing back against the status quo of nudity on-screen. Thompson’s character is an older woman looking at herself; so often what we see in movies is a young woman taking her clothes off so someone else — usually a man — can look at her.

As Thompson revealed at the Berlinale this past weekend, the scene is “the hardest thing [she’s] ever had to do.”

“If I stand in front of a mirror, I’m always sort of pulling something, or I’ll turn to the side, I’ll do something. I can’t just stand there. Why would I do that, it’s horrifying,” Thompson said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “But that’s the problem, isn’t it, that women have been brainwashed all lives to hate our bodies. That’s just the fact. And everything that surrounds us reminds us how imperfect we are, and everything is wrong with us.”

Thompson also remarked that audiences aren’t used to seeing “untreated bodies” in film. From lighting to makeup to digital enhancements, the portrayal of bodies are manipulated for the screen. What we see — unblemished skin, taut torsos, toned muscles — isn’t necessarily real. Nevertheless, we tend to compare our actual bodies with the airbrushed ones we see on-screen.

From director Sophie Hyde and screenwriter Katy Brand, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” centers on a sexually unfulfilled retiree who hires a male sex worker. Thompson discussed the film’s study of female sexuality which, like its approach to nudity, challenges accepted norms. “It’s not considered important that we have pleasure,” she said. “I’m sure I’ve met people who’ve had that experience. Some of the young women I know say they were 30 when they first experienced it. But I don’t think we talk about it, and I also think we’re kind of dishonest about it.”

“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” was recently acquired by Searchlight Pictures, and will stream on Hulu in the U.S.

Thompson was last seen in “Cruella.” Her other more recent credits include “Last Christmas,” “How to Build a Girl,” and “Late Night.” She won an Academy Award for her lead role in “Howards End,” and another for writing the screenplay for 1995’s “Sense and Sensibility,” which she also toplined.

The Berlinale runs through February 20.