Worth seeing for O'Toole's incorrigible twilight jesting
Venus (2006)
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Reviews Counted:144
Fresh:128
Rotten:16
Average Rating:7.3/10
Consensus: Audiences may attend to witness Peter O'Toole's Oscar-worthy performance, but they'll also be treated to a humane, tender exploration of maturing with both dignity and irreverence.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language, some sexual content and brief nudity.
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Dec 21, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $3,261,449
Synopsis: Screen legend Peter O'Toole stars in this moving story of an elderly actor and his somewhat questionable relationship with a teenage girl. Maurice (O'Toole) and his friend Ian (Leslie Phillips) are... Screen legend Peter O'Toole stars in this moving story of an elderly actor and his somewhat questionable relationship with a teenage girl. Maurice (O'Toole) and his friend Ian (Leslie Phillips) are two classy curmudgeons whiling away their hours in coffee shops and at the theater, but their routine is thrown for a loop when Ian's niece's daughter Jessie (Jodie Whittaker) is sent from the country to act as his nurse. Jessie shows up on the scene sullen and pouty, immediately drinking all the liquor in the house and slouching her way from room to room. But Maurice befriends her, taking her to museums and getting her a gig as an art model, and along the way he openly expresses the lust she has awakened in him. Jessie's brash rejections of his affections are at first as amusing as they are awkward. When she starts to allow him small pleasures--like kissing her bare shoulders or caressing her hands--the film enters into some uncomfortable, complicated territory, but it is deftly navigated by Hanif Kureishi's sharp screenplay, and O'Toole's heartbreaking performance. VENUS is in many ways a quiet film, shot mainly in tiny shops and in Ian's musty apartment, and it often relies on single shots of O'Toole's weary blue eyes to convey the many complexities within the story. Far from just a tale of a May-December romance, VENUS is a very raw look at growing old, and the aches and pains, both emotional and physical, that accompany a man near the end of his life. It is an honest, moving portrait of human desire, and how it can both beat us down and lift us up--no matter the age. [More]
Starring: Peter O'Toole, Jodie Whittaker, Leslie Phillips, Vanessa Redgrave
Starring: Peter O'Toole, Jodie Whittaker, Leslie Phillips, Vanessa Redgrave, Beatrice Savoretti, Phillip Fox
Director: Roger Michell
Director: Roger Michell
Producer: Kevin Loader, Scott Rudin
Composer: David Arnold, Corinne Bailey Rae
Studio: Miramax Films
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Reviews for Venus
While age may have devoured O'Toole's youth, it has been utterly unable to touch his blistering talent, or his eyes which still sparkle with rakish light.
The only thing that resonated with me was O'Toole, who is at his playful best playing a role made to order for him of the boozer rascal who could charm a snake.
Una comedia dramática agridulce donde brilla con luz propia el formidable Peter O'Toole, en un papel que tiene mucho de sí mismo.
There is consequently an authenticity to the movie that's intensified by O'Toole's expectedly masterful performance...
What makes Venus unforgettable is not the fine direction and script, or Vanessa Redgrave's startling cameo as Maurice's suffering ex-wife, or Whittaker's award-worthy debut; it's that the viewer can't draw a line between O'Toole's career and Maurice's.
...neither a romance nor a comedy but an engaging slice of life, a charming treat that reminds us how fragile life is.
He quotes Shakespeare; she quotes Kylie Minogue.The plot takes an awkward turn about two-thirds of the way through, but up until then, Kureishi's screenplay offers an intriguing contrast of styles.
Not winning the Oscar takes nothing away from Peter O'Toole's unforgettable performance as Maurice, a gifted, once devastatingly handsome man who, as the doleful lyrics of a recent Morrissey song state, falls in love even as he lies on his deathbed.
Vęnus se salva do fracasso graças ao veterano Peter O'Toole, que oferece uma performance digna do homem responsável por encarnar figuras inesquecíveis como T.E. Lawrence, o Rei Henry II e mesmo o absurdo Eli Cross.
Venus isn't just a small-scale character study, but a thing of beauty to be treasured -- just like its star.
A movie that recognizes that in old age, our minds might remain bright with humor and mischief, but our bodies nevertheless betray us. Coming to terms with that gives "Venus" its emotional final act.
The film is engaging. There is a good deal of humanity and a bit of nostalgia.
Peter O'Toole so completely throws himself into the role of Maurice... that the only response is to suspect that he is letting us see the real man behind the actorly mask...
So many movies presume to instruct us on how to be young, and to insist we remain that way. Here’s a rare picture that with all due respect -- and all due irreverence -- would like to suggest one vital way of being old.
Latest News for Venus
January 30, 2007:
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January 15, 2007:
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December 26, 2006:
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December 21, 2006:
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