Venus

Taking its place amongst my favourite films of all time is Venus. The story of Maurice and Ian, a pair of veteran actors whose comfortable daily routine is disrupted by the arrival of Ian's grand-niece, Jessie, who fails to live up to his expectations as 'carer' and general domestic goddess, Maurice decides to take the teenager under his wing and out of Ian's way, but is surprised to discover how little he actually knows now that his own life is drawing to a close.

Peter O'Toole and Leslie Phillips head the cast and play the convincing 'old couple,' conveying loyalty and friendship of a kind that has disappeared from the world. Their segments are usually light-hearted banter or sweet moments that help to subtract a little of the intensity from some of the other scenes throughout the movie.

Jodie Whittaker performs well as Jessie, Ian's niece, I really enjoyed watching the way her character really matured towards the end of the film, finally realising something great was about to be taken away from her and she tried so hard to hold on.

Venus is as much a film about the exploitative side of such a relationship as well as our desires for the flesh, even in old age, it's not so much about 'getting your end away' as it is about being touched and admired. Both Maurice and Jessie use the relationship to their own advantage and for their own gain. Maurice wants to feel loved again, the smell of a woman's neck and to enjoy a meal and a bottle of wine with a beautiful woman. Jessie often wants money or clothes but deeper than that she wants someone to look at her and see beauty and to think of her. Often, Jessie uses bribes as a way to manipulate Maurice, for example the scene above; Jessie places her fingers up her skirt and after a little squirming on the chair, her hand emerges and almost finds it's way to Maurice's mouth, just so she can have a tattoo. They exploit each other equally, in their own ways.

Plagued by ill-health, Maurice requests Jessie's aid in his final days, she agrees. Her character really turns around at this point and becomes much more 'adult' about things you can literally see the affection returned, she sweeps his floor, reads him literature and attends his bed side. When Maurice awakes, not knowing how long they'll have together, Jessie is quick to position her self so that Maurice can do what he loves to do, smell her neck.

Knowing time is running out and letting go becomes the only option, Maurice persuades Jessie to avoid his hospital appointment and they take a train, in what I thought was a great sequence of shots and a more than suitable way of showing travel, returning to where he grew up as a child. I'll avoid divulging all the details, as long as you watch it, it's well recommended and avoids being to 'dragged out' the relationship is well crafted and built up in layers throughout every scene, in my opinion there's a part in both characters that every single one of us can relate too. A story that began as a story of old age, ended as a story of transformation and personal growth.

Venus is a heart-warming tale about a seemingly lecherous old actor who's lust for life is reawakened when he meets the raw youth that is his best friend's niece. Together she gives him one last reminder of his bountiful life and he helps her to realize her own value and desirability.

Teetering on the brink of obsession, we are never sure if we should be disgusted at O'Toole's Caligula life style or be impressed at how remarkably alive he tries to remain, Venus can be a little hard to take mainly because it can catch you so unaware. It is also a painful story, there are moments of real truth that are hard to watch; simple biting scenes like O'Toole not having enough cash to buy a dress reminds us of the basic vulnerability and frail thresholds that keep us happy with one another.

In the theatrical tradition it is not without it's comedy. Landing somewhere between Still Game and Frasier, Venus is a remarkable and beautiful film that seems to have an almost magic quality.

In exploration of the impossible courtship and catalystic manipulations of an elderly hedonistic actor and a young untamed woman, Venus charts new territories in film-making and invites great humour into what could easily have been a bleak and dramaturgic affair.

As commented on by the actors themselves, roles for septugenerians of such rich reward are few and far between, and so it is with evident ebullience that these characters are fleshed out by a wealth of experience and a sheer gravitas virtually unequalled in the trade.

O'Toole gives a performance steeped in humility and the magnanimous talent's in his supporting cast of Leslie Philips and Vanessa Redgrave is shimmering gold dust.

Interactions between the two old sparring partners (O'Toole and Philips) are so natural as to be excerpts from life itself, and Redgrave convey's in her few scenes such depth and soulfulness that it's hard not to feel moved to tears.

The firebrand; Jodie Whittaker is hideously seductive, an unflinching potrayal of contemporary youth. Both hostile, manipulative but naive and ultimately obsequious, Whittaker provides the perfect balance to O'Toole's aging letchery with a louche ability to control it.

The dark undertone is however, perfectly complimented with a flair for comedy that plays on the delapidated protagonist's with a dry wit that runs parallel, and the script highlights such tender human frailty, desire and heartbreak that it's effect lingers long after the credits have passed.

Having made his mark long since, O'Toole shares with us this poignant, touching, lascivious, yet beautiful performance, introspective some might wonder, an ephimeral evensong and reminder that brilliance is not confined to youth, the best is often yet to come.