Not the movie I thought it was...and what I got was a pleasant surprise
Added 12/11/2009
Sad to say I'd been avoiding this fine movie - I kept bumping it down the queue because I thought it was quite something else. The trailer I had seen focused on O'Toole's Peeping Tom in Art Class act (a fine piece of physical comedy). One could easily think it was the tale of a rather lecherous old man and uncomfortable, unrequited love.
The actual movie is quite different - a nuanced, well-acted and thoughtful look at a wonderful relationship that develops between O'Toole's Maurice and Jodie Whittaker's Jessie, grand-niece of Maurice's best mate, Ian (a delightful, hilarious Leslie Phillips). Maurice passes along his knowledge and life experience to Jessie. He takes her to her first play - they sit up close and listen to street-wise, shocking language from the actors. You can see in Jessie's face she's agog and fascinated. What Jessie, in turn, has for Maurice is vitality, spunk and energy to burn.
Writer Hanif Kureishi also penned the classic My Beautiful Laundrette as well as the underrated The Mother, featuring a very un-Bond-like Daniel Craig. Venus' director Roger Mitchell helmed 'The Mother' as well. The Mitchell/Kureishi partnership guarantees a quality product.
I'm thrilled to see in IMDB that Kureishi is doing the screenplay for the brilliant novel, The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize). Now that's something I'll pay top-dollar to see. I can't wait, Hanif!
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Very poignant
Added 9/11/2009
As a female, I often tire of the older man/younger woman stereotype that abounds in film. That said however, and even while some of the scenes in this film were a bit disturbing to watch, this story is very rich, and the relationship between the man/girl is not as black and white as you would initially think. As the movie unfolds you begin to see that their relationship has many nuances that even they themselves don't recognize at first.
I also liked the fact that we got to see older people interacting with each other as friends and as former lovers. Far too often when we see elderly people in film, it is a caricature of old folk. But the older characters in this film...you got to see them in all their "regularness"....really no different than people half their age....they have the same insecurities, still act much the same way they did in their younger years...the only difference is that they now are dealing with failing bodies and death.
By the end of the film, I just had a lump in my throat. Truly a very poignant, touching film!
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Kind of a weird movie!
Added 6/4/2009
Two elderly actors, who have been friends for a very long time, are anxiously dealing with life and waiting for death. One of them has a niece whose daughter offered to come from the farmside to take care of him. He however discovers that she is a total nightmare and as a result he totally rejects her.
His friend on the other hand falls in love with her. She is 50 years younger than him and he still falls in love with her and wants her so badly, sometimes in many sick ways. She couldn't accept him at first but later when she became the cause of his serious injury, she dedicated her life to him until he died.
The story is kind of sick! I mean what kind of an 80 year old guy would fall in love and have these kinds of instincts towards a 20 year old girl. I believe the kind of a sick minded!
At the end of the movie you just learn from it that even older men are not totally safe and are still capable of harassing young women!
The movie was kind of slow and at many times boring too.
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Quirky, Funny, and touching...
Added 4/30/2009
It isn't difficult to summarize a film with an elderly lead; they nearly always detail a failing body and mind, ending in a sad but inevitable death. It is to the credit of director Roger Mitchell, writer Hanif Kureishi, and especially stars Peter O'Toole, Leslie Phillips, and Vanessa Redgrave, that "Venus" is a little treasure, embracing the ravages of age and vaguries of love, both physically and spiritually, with a nearly 'gallows' humor that is irresistable.
Director Mitchell, with tongue in cheek, has described the film as "Dirty old man falls for sluttish girl", but the May/December relationship between newcomer Jodie Whittaker and O'Toole has a poignancy reminiscent of Burt Lancaster's unrequited pursuit of Susan Sarandon in "Atlantic City"; she teases him, then backs away, and his longing combines the frustrations of old age with the bittersweet memories of the Lothario he once was. As O'Toole's character is a respected stage and screen actor in his waning years, it isn't difficult to imagine these moments having special meaning for him (fortunately, O'Toole is in very good health!) Eventually, the kinkiness of the pair's relationship blossoms into something sweeter and more enduring, tempered by a tragedy, and quite moving.
Yes, the film does end the way you'd expect it to, but in a small way, what the pair shared together improves the lives of the people around them, and the girl can face the future with a confidence he nurtured in her. Old age and death may be a 'damned nuisance', but O'Toole reminds us that the human heart is ageless...
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One of the Most Amazing Movies Ever
Added 11/29/2008
I fell in love with this film immediately. It is one of the most touching and powerful films I have ever had the pleasure to watch. Other than the impeccable performance of the cast, this film offers a sense of timelessness to its viewers because it focuses upon the relationship between Jessie and Maurice, who are at opposite ends of the human life spectrum. Regardless of the age difference, they offer each other a unique type of companionship and love in the end. It is a film that is sad yet beautiful because it portrays both characters as being capable of both selflessness and selfishness in the end. It mantains its reality which is refreshing for a film of this millenium. I personally enjoyed it and it is, as I said, one of the most amazing movies I have ever seen.
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