Venus (2006)

(London and the English coast; contemporary)
IMDb

Forest Whitaker was really quite impressive in The Last King of Scotland, he probably even deserved that Academy Award, in fact I'm sure he did. None-the-less, had I been an Academy voter I would have voted for Peter O'Toole. Not just because he's Peter O'Toole, not just because his role in Venus is such a worthy capstone to such a great career, but because the man is still a bloody good performer. Granted some of the aura of being Peter O'Toole helps, but you don't have to know anything about him to recognize his presence. Richard Harris, a good friend of O'Toole was the same way, even ten year olds watching Harry Potter knew to stop and stare a little. Venus provides ample opportunity to just soak in O'Toole in all his complex finery.

O'Toole is Maurice, a respected and still sporadically working actor of stage, screen and television. As a septuagenarian now he has more free time then he'd probably like, and he spends much of it with his actor friends. One of them (Leslie Phillips) is having his niece's 20ish daughter come to live with him as a sort of nurse/cook, however he is very disappointed to find when she (Jodie Whittaker, not to be confused with Forest) arrives, that the girl is sullen and uncooperative. "It's been less then 24 hours and I'm already desiring euthanasia" he tell's Maurice. It is Maurice however who takes a deeper interest in the girl, even though she seems but marginally attractive and not particularly pleasant. But Jessie, who Maurice nicknames 'Venus' does manage to get somehow more beautiful as the film plays on, and Ms. Whittaker should be hailed for a performance and characterization that doesn't so much seem to change as to deepen.

Maurice is a dirty old man, and Jessie a young dissatisfied of no particular consequence, yet they prove drawn to one another, capable of soliciting from the other more life then they otherwise display. It is a chaste relationship, of a sort, not that Maurice wouldn't like to enjoy that earthy form of pleasure he so understatedly says he "Likes". Cancer has made him impotent physically, squashing the one thing besides the theater he was ever truly able to immerse himself in. As a result he sends out feelers, to other humans, in search of a deeper connection, mostly to Jessie, but also to his common-law ex-wife, with whom he never officially became divorced. Jessie is uneasy of desired connection, and takes up with a forgettable punk, who rasies Maurice's ire. The seeds of plot resolution are planted there-in.

Venus is a beautiful movie, it simply is. I can't encapsulate it any more then that, I truly enjoyed it. O'Toole is always worth seeing and Whittaker a find, with the supporting cast worthy as well. This is not a general audience picture, but its particular audience will recognize its value and appreciate its beauty.