Venus by Jeffrey M. Anderson, a San Francisco-based film critic

Now that Peter O’Toole’s eighth Oscar nomination has come and gone without yielding a single win (except for that consolation prize, the “Honorary Oscar”), his giddy, ruthless performance in Roger Michell and Hanif Kureishi’s Venus can be fully appreciated on its own. O’Toole hasn’t had a leading role worthy of his delicious scenery-chewing talents since My Favorite Year (1982), but now it’s clear he’s still in top form; at age 74, he even manages a hilarious pratfall.

O’Toole plays the “little bit famous” Maurice, a London actor who still works steadily in television and on the stage, spending his free time with old colleague Ian (Leslie Phillips); their bantering and bickering provides a jovial contrast to the dour, seedy city around them. When Ian’s beastly grand-niece Jessie (Jodie Whittaker) comes to stay, Ian has no idea how to deal with her. But her teenage ennui, cynicism and selfishness somehow appeal to the more playful Maurice. Jessie adores the attention, and when the mood strikes, she allows Maurice to fawn over her. Thus begins an odd, touching friendship, rife with awkwardness, ghoulishness and heartbreaking generosity.

Director Michell and writer Kureishi (who previously collaborated on The Mother in 2003) keep the film hovering just out of Lolita territory by dwelling among the city’s aged, oppressed and outcast. Indeed, Maurice becomes much more than just a crusty, visual one-liner. Venus slowly reveals his past—much of it expressed through scenes with his ex-wife (played beautifully by Vanessa Redgrave)—and then traces a coherent path leading up to the present. It turns out that Maurice has always had a way with women, but difficulty dealing with the truth. Ultimately, Maurice’s final fling has little to do with sex and everything to do with discovering himself at last.

 

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