Venus
Watching Peter O'Toole play a lecherous old actor longing to relive his youthful indiscretions isn't exactly life imitating art, but it is a fictional glimpse back at the career of a brilliant actor taking the stage for what hopefully is far from the last time. How O'Toole has missed out on Oscar gold all these years is dumbfounding, and once again he proves his enormous talent in Venus. You have no choice but to simultaneously pity and appreciate Maurice, who affection for his friend's neice could best be described as a lascivious boyhood crush played out in the mind of a man nearly 60 years her senior. ("I'm impotent, of course, but I can still take theoretical interest.") She reminds him of the Venus de Milo, and he goes so far as to arrange a job as a nude model for the shiftless girl, mostly as a comical scheme to see her naked. Maurice's awareness of his impending mortality only makes his ridiculous advances at Jessie sadly more desperate, something she's all too willing to exploit until she realizes this old man, despite his absurd love for her, may actually have something to teach her about the difference between a life well lived and a life well squandered. Venus is one of those tenderly bittersweet films penetrated by brief moments of hilarity and dreadfulness, held together by the captivating performance of one of the greatest actors ever to grace the silver screen.
- April 26, 2009
DVD Extras
Leading the way in bonus features is a mildly touching look at the film from the perspective of the senior actors in the film and their appreciation of getting to play such significant characters so late in their careers. Everything else take it or leave material such as blasé deleted scenes and commentary by the director and producer.