Susan Granger’s review of “Venus” (Miramax)
In “Venus,” Peter O’Toole reigns supreme as an aging actor who forms a liaison, of sorts, with the cheeky 19 year-old grand-niece of his closest chum.
While Maurice (O’Toole) and Ian (Leslie Phillips) are coping with the cruel indignities of old age, a young woman comes into their lives. Coarse, crass and uneducated, Jessie (Jodie Whittaker) has come to London to look for work as a fashion model. While her surly behavior tries grumpy Ian’s patience, Maurice is enchanted with her, taking her to theater and introducing her to the cultural sights, including Diego Velazquez’s portrait of Venus in the National Gallery. Invigorated and clearly infatuated, he calls her “Venus” and gets her a job modeling for an art class, only to discover that – to his great chagrin – he’s not allowed to witness her disrobing. Observing from the sidelines is Valerie (Vanessa Redgrave), Maurice’s long-estranged, empathetic wife and mother of their three children.
Now a frail 75, O’Toole has lost none of the charismatic finesse that won him seven Oscar nominations and an Honorary Academy Award in 2003. He delivers a superbly nuanced tragicomedic portrayal, complete with outrageous impudence and acerbic wit. As a cantankerous curmudgeon, Phillips matches him all the way with Richard Griffiths (“The History Boys”) completing the bickering trio in a particularly amusing cafŽ scene.
Screenwriter Hanif Kureishi and director Roger Mitchell, who previously collaborated on “The Mother” about a widow who has an affair with her daughter’s lover, are on familiar territory with this May-December relationship, skirting sentiment while gleefully mining the inherent comedy. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Venus” is a wryly clever 8 – and it wouldn’t surprise me if it augured Oscar nomination #8 for Peter O’Toole and, perhaps, a win.
