Film Reviews

Venus

• Rating:
• Director: Roger Michell.
• Starring: Peter O'Toole, Jodie Whittaker, Richard Griffiths, Leslie Phillips.
• Details: UK / 95mins (15).

Maurice (O'Toole) and Ian (Phillips) are two ageing actors who prefer nothing better than going to the theatre and hanging around the local greasy spoon. Their routine is disrupted when Ian's unruly teenage relative Jesse (Whittaker) moves in to take care of him. Ian can't stand her bitchy attitude but Maurice sees something different: a possibility to change someone, to take her under his wing and give her a new start. However, he's not content with playing a father figure and he falls madly in lust with her. Let's get this straight: this is no Harold And Maude cutesy love story. Director Michell (Notting Hill) and writer Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Launderette, Sammy And Rosie Get Laid) did the right thing in embracing the old man's sexuality instead of keeping it at just holding hands. He's a horny beggar and makes no apologies for it. O'Toole is fantastic and thoroughly deserves his Oscar nomination. He plays Maurice like Withnail fifty years down the line: a well-read gentleman who fantasises about the young girl and allows himself to fall in love despite being aware of how ridiculous that might sound. He gives the old codger the right amount of lechery and the right amount of romance to keep him at an even keel. The dialogue is whippet-smart and bounces around, allowing everyone involved at least two great lines, sometimes even in the same scene.

Review by Gavin Burke