Venus
Wednesday, 24 Jan 2007 17:31
Peter O'Toole delivers a stirring performance in Venus
Directed by Roger Michell, out January 26th at the cinema, starring Peter O'Toole, Jodie Whittaker and Leslie Phillips, running time 95 minutes.
In a nutshell…
Witty and endearing swansong for O'Toole.
What's it all about?
Maurice (O'Toole) and Ian (Phillips) are once-great English actors now spending their twilight years playing corpses on television hospital dramas. They reminisce and compare ailments, while O'Toole periodically visits his ever-patient ex-wife (Vanessa Redgrave).
Change arrives in the Lolita-esque form of Jessie, Ian's slightly chavvy, northern niece. Ian is both confused and repulsed by her, but Maurice is instantly drawn to the woman he nicknames "Venus".
Director and writer team Michell and Hanif Kureishi have expanded on their theme of cross-generational relationships, first explored in The Mother. Maurice and Jessie form an unlikely friendship, gallivanting from the Royal Court theatre to Topshop fuelled by Bacardi Breezers and Maurice's medication. Inevitably he falls in love with "Venus", who is less than comfortable being the muse of a man more than 50 years her senior.
Who's in it?
As Maurice, Peter O'Toole enjoys his first leading role for 20 years in a part that could have been written for him. He is perfectly cast as the once-beautiful Maurice and brings a suitable amount of baggage and gravitas to the role.
Newcomer Jodie Whittaker has the challenge of playing opposite the screen greats but holds her own admirably. Barely known before the This Life special, her performance in Venus has seen her tipped as a British talent to watch.
Vanessa Redgrave is also wonderful as Maurice's sickly wife Valerie. Like O'Toole, she is not afraid to show her age on screen and lends the film a warming side note.
As an example…
Ian: (On Jessie) "She's vile beyond belief".
Valerie: (After hearing Maurice is to play a corpse) "Typecast again".
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
As was expected, Peter O'Toole has been nominated for an Oscar for best actor. Although Forrest Whittaker is the favourite to win for Last King of Scotland, O'Toole could yet scoop the award, especially as he has missed out on the "lovely bugger" seven times in the past.
What the others say
"A gentle, funny and melancholy look at the ravages of age and time, with an irresistible star performance at its heart. Oscar prospects, surely?" - Total Film: Four stars
"A screen-acting showcase by a man whose best days, many thought, were behind him. There's life in the old dog yet." - Empire: Four stars
So is it any good?
Venus could potentially have gone very wrong, but is saved from any possible error by the acting talents of its cast. O'Toole fully deserves his Oscar and Bafta nominations for his performance as Maurice.
A 70something-year-old lusting graphically over a teenager always risks alienating viewers but with the exception of a couple of frames O'Toole deftly sidesteps the 'yuck factor'. Fragile both on screen and in real life, O'Toole provides a humane portrayal of the indignity of ageing, while his acting pedigree, again mirrored onscreen and off, lends the role a suitable gravitas.
Similarly, with its portrayal of north London luvvies and frequent "shop talk", Venus risked alienating any members of the audience who haven't trod the boards. However, it manages not to appear smug, in part because Jessie is not treated simply as a "vile chav" but instead a more complex character and foil to the actors' clique.
With tragedy obvious from the onset, the ending is still surprisingly moving, with Venus gently coaxing out the audience's sympathies.
7.5/10
Kate Webb
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