Review of Venus (2006) by Walter M — 06 Jan 2008

[font=Century Gothic]"Venus" starts out with two elderly men, Maurice(Peter O'Toole) and Ian(Leslie Phillips), comparing their medications in a coffee shop. Ian is overjoyed that he is going to be getting his very own nurse, in the person of his niece's daughter, Jessie(Jodie Whittaker), but is less than pleased with the level of service. However, Maurice sees promise in the young woman, taking her to the theatre.[/font].

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[font=Century Gothic]Written by Hanif Kureishi, "Venus" is a slight but witty comedy with good performances, epsecially Vanessa Redgrave in an underplayed part. What the movie is mostly concerned with is growing older, especially as it concerns the elderly. For example, Maurice, a distinguished actor, can only get roles as corpses these days.(So, presumably nobody is interested in making movies about senior citizens.) And no matter how badly his body may be suffering(prostate is his current complaint), his mind is more than willing, Jessie being the reason he gets out of bed in the morning. I am looking forward to being a dirty old man myself but the movie errs by making the audience complicit in Maurice's leering. Even worse, Jessie's whole purpose as a human being seems to be as a sex object. It never occurs to anybody in the film that she might actually have a mind of her own. [/font].