What an understating and sensitive portrait of an aging man this is, never dwelling on emotional poignancy, but letting the cleverly written script and lead actor speak volumes. For me this is something of the epitome of a Brit-flick (however negatively-connoted the term has become): noble, talkative, subtle and funny.
Peter O'Toole lends his remarkably frail charisma to the role of Maurice, a veteran actor with a prostate condition who becomes smitten with his friend's 20-year-old niece, whom he affectionately nicknames Venus one day in an art gallery. She becomes something of an ethereal goddess to him, capable of filling the last days of his life with beauty and purpose simply by allowing him to touch her hand, smell her hair and watch her from afar. Their relationship, however kinky or difficult in nature, is one of the most tragically portrayed bonds you will see in film this year. Every scene they have together resonates tenderness on O'Toole's part, and is positively drenched in comic schoolgirl Lolita undertones.
For all its poetic and prose allusions in O'Toole's monologues and wisdoms as he stares into the distance, "Venus" never alludes to Lolita. It simply does not have to, for watching it is like opening a candy box of taboo notions, not to mention Jessie (Jodie Whittaker) is undeniably a lot like the titular character in Nabokov's novel: unlikeable, self-indulgent and spoiled, even if she eventually grows on you considerably. For all her brass teenage nature, O'Toole makes up for it with the same unique quality he brings to all of his characters, namely an intense emotional frailty embedded in his baby blue eyes. It breaks my heart to watch him in even remotely tragic situations now more than ever with an aging veneer and saggy parts, but even back in his Lawrence of Arabia days his emotional transparency never failed to touch me immensely.
That is not to say I crown O'Toole the best actor in the Academy category solely on sentimental grounds. Forest Whitaker, too, was excellent, but O'Toole gives the most nobly natural performance of the year (tied with Winslet perhaps). Although I enjoyed all supporting performances and technicalities of the film, "Venus" is something of a custom-tailored vehicle for Peter O'Toole, which is prime meat for the Academy and a rich source of enjoyment for me.
8 out of 10
Peter O'Toole lends his remarkably frail charisma to the role of Maurice, a veteran actor with a prostate condition who becomes smitten with his friend's 20-year-old niece, whom he affectionately nicknames Venus one day in an art gallery. She becomes something of an ethereal goddess to him, capable of filling the last days of his life with beauty and purpose simply by allowing him to touch her hand, smell her hair and watch her from afar. Their relationship, however kinky or difficult in nature, is one of the most tragically portrayed bonds you will see in film this year. Every scene they have together resonates tenderness on O'Toole's part, and is positively drenched in comic schoolgirl Lolita undertones.
For all its poetic and prose allusions in O'Toole's monologues and wisdoms as he stares into the distance, "Venus" never alludes to Lolita. It simply does not have to, for watching it is like opening a candy box of taboo notions, not to mention Jessie (Jodie Whittaker) is undeniably a lot like the titular character in Nabokov's novel: unlikeable, self-indulgent and spoiled, even if she eventually grows on you considerably. For all her brass teenage nature, O'Toole makes up for it with the same unique quality he brings to all of his characters, namely an intense emotional frailty embedded in his baby blue eyes. It breaks my heart to watch him in even remotely tragic situations now more than ever with an aging veneer and saggy parts, but even back in his Lawrence of Arabia days his emotional transparency never failed to touch me immensely.
That is not to say I crown O'Toole the best actor in the Academy category solely on sentimental grounds. Forest Whitaker, too, was excellent, but O'Toole gives the most nobly natural performance of the year (tied with Winslet perhaps). Although I enjoyed all supporting performances and technicalities of the film, "Venus" is something of a custom-tailored vehicle for Peter O'Toole, which is prime meat for the Academy and a rich source of enjoyment for me.
8 out of 10