Carolina Giammetta, Cathryn Bradshaw, Jodie Whittaker
"Venus" tells 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. Maurice takes the teenager under his wing...( read more
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DVD Release Date: May 22, 2007
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Stats: 1,441 reviews
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Flixster Reviews (1,441)
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October 1, 2009A fantastic film! Peter O'Toole and Leslie Phillips's chemistry is superb! O'Toole should have won the Oscar! Vanessa Redgrave's performance is also very touching. Highly recommended!
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March 20, 2009Not at all what I expected, but that's a good thing since this movie had me laughing almost nonstop. Peter O'Toole had his heart broken again by just missing out on finally winning Best Actor for his role as a dirty old man who falls in love with his best friend's daughter's niec...( read more)
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February 20, 2009if i wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt i'd give it a three, but i don't want! o'toole is a legend and redgrave is apt support yet the film never really goes anywhere except into the zone of boundless swearing. don't get me wrong... i like swearing. i like seeing swearing...( read more)
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July 19, 2008Venus is the story of how two aging actors (Peter O'Toole and Leslie Philips) lives are turned upside down by a teenager relative of Philip's character Ian. O'Toole plays Maurice, a seventy-something how becomes infatuated with her, but not really to the point of lust. Maurice se...( read more)
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February 22, 2008Not a totally satisfying movie, but it has its charms, among them being interesting performances by O'Toole and Whittaker, a lovely soundtrack and a pleasant ending.
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October 18, 2009Refreshing to see such well respected actors using such colourful language!
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October 6, 2009What a tour de force! O'Toole, Phillips, Redgrave and the charming young thing that plays our fallen and redeemed heroine bring virtuosity to this unusual .feast of story telling. May I live to become such a grand old fart.
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September 30, 2009The gentle, poignant story of an unexpected relationship that blossoms between a brash, un-loved teenager and a retired actor more than seventy years her senior. Peter O'Toole plays the ancient actor preparing himself for death, and does it with warmth, love and grace. Favorite s...( read more)
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August 16, 2009daring,provocative,and with a subject matter that hollywood often fears to tackle,VENUS is a drama unlike any other.and excelled by O'toole wondrous performance,this is a surprisingly brilliant movie that i didn't see coming.the last shot is a gem too(especially if you're a man,h...( read more)
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Critic Reviews
February 3, 2007
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com
January 26, 2007
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles, they say, and Peter O'Toole, 74, proves the point in Venus. full review
December 22, 2006
Pete Hammond, Maxim
O'Toole is simply remarkable as an aging actor still trying to live life to its fullest. He sets the bar way up there for this year's Oscar race. full review
December 21, 2006
Claudia Puig, USA Today
Venus is sharply written with fine supporting performances, but the movie is all about O'Toole, showcasing an actor who at 72 continues to astound with the depth of his talent. full review
December 20, 2006
A.O. Scott, The New York Times
A modest, diverting, touching tale of a young woman who attracts the interest of an aging actor, played with effortless aplomb by the great Peter O'Toole.
December 20, 2006
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
Venus is awash in terrific performances. full review
December 18, 2006
David Edelstein, New York Magazine
Venus is worth seeing for the scenes between O'Toole and Vanessa Redgrave as the woman he abandoned. full review
November 23, 2006
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
O'Toole gives a staggering performance -- fearless, defiantly untamed and in its own way a work of art. full review
Comments
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December 27, 2006Venus is first and foremost an actors film. The casting of mercurial talent like Peter O' Toole, Leslie Philips and Richard Griffiths. Even Jodie Whittaker is an actor of budding talent winning a gold medal for her acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2005. The film is instantly watchable for these talents alone but less so for the script from Hanif Kureishi. This is surprising as I greatly admired his last film The Mother. Venus like this film is the story of a much older character having a relationship withs someone younger with sex being present, physically in the Mother and mentally in Venus. Cinema is adept at using age opposition to great affect, Gods and Monsters is but one. Venus is very much in the tradition of what we could term 'mind the age gap cinema' with Harold and Maude up their with the best. O'Toole plays the character of Maurice an aging actor, still in the game but his glory days are long gone. When he is introduced to his actor friends niece played here by Whittaker, her beauty as seen from Maurice's eye is not dented by her behavior traits that would not be out of place on the Catherine Tate Show.
Like Visconti's Death in Venice, his fast approaching mortality, his past years as something of a ladies man leads him into an a seductive relationship dressed up as an attempt to give the girl a cultural education. And so he does taking her to the National Gallery were upon he shows her Vasquez's painting Venus. The age gap as the relationship develops does not add depth but on to many occasion's is played for laughs. One such clumsy attempt has Maurice leering at her with the help of a waste paper basket with the inevitable consequences. Consequently his late in life liaison with a young women does not give Maurice the uplift and zest for life but instead hastens his decline, this I suppose is the tragedy. What depth their is, O'Toole conveys it and ironically the films stand out scene is his emotional dinner with his f
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