Review of Venus (2006) by Mike S — 22 Aug 2008

I saw this movie just yesterday on DVD, and I didn't know what to expect. All I knew was that the film depicted an unusual love story between an old man (O'Toole) and a young girl.

This is no Notes on a Scandal; the film is not about pedophilia. It's about what may make you uncomfortable--the fact that you, too, may become so old you are unrecognizable, almost repulsive and scary to younger people. It's about the life of an old person, the unglamorous part of it, the sick part of it--pills, poverty, loneliness, leg bags. Our destiny if we live that long.

But more important it's a reminder that valuable people are everywhere, if we're just open to them. And that while we age on the outside, we don't on the inside. We don't have to.

Peter O'Toole's character, Maurice Russell, was quite a ladies man in his youth. He'd still be one if women would let him. He meets, Jessie, the niece and newly recruited caretaker of his best friend, Ian, and we can see in his eyes that the ladies man has reawakened in him. Trouble is, he's ancient, he looks it and often physically feels it. A prostate operation makes him impotent and incontinent. But that doesn't mean he can't have a little fun in some compensatory ways. He simply loves women and decides to enjoy Jessie, whom he renames Venus, as he can and as she'll allow. Kiss her neck, buy her earrings, paw her on occasion. But with sex not much of a distraction anymore, he's able to give her a gift that no man or woman has ever given her. He gives her his time, friendship, support. He broadens her world by taking her on set and to theater. She grows up as a result.

The movie has a lot of funny moments--a fight scene between two old guys prompts a friend to break it up saying--"what is this, catheters at dawn?" Vanessa Redgrave is her expected reliable acting self. My favorite scene? Jess and O'Toole in the limo--both euphoric.