Venus Reviews
January 20, 2012
A starring vehicle for an aging star who receives deafening awards buzz not so much for the performance than, it seems, for simply being alive.
Full Review | Original Score: 2/4
November 22, 2010
It's a pleasure to have Peter O'Toole's company here - likely for the last time in a role of such magnitude & majesty, bangs still swept back in boyish wisps and his sky-blue eyes vibrant and hungry. A loving, lyrical, eloquent sonnet to elderly sunsets.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/4
August 28, 2009
Worth seeing for O'Toole's incorrigible twilight jesting
February 28, 2008
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.
Full Review | Original Score: 7/10
February 22, 2008
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.
Full Review | Original Score: B-
November 2, 2007
Zinger lines, wonderful performances and a profound emotional authenticity distinguish a film about the relationship between an old actor and a young woman.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5
October 22, 2007
Superb acting on life's journey; not for kids.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5
September 22, 2007
Una comedia dramática agridulce donde brilla con luz propia el formidable Peter O'Toole, en un papel que tiene mucho de sí mismo.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5
August 4, 2007
There is consequently an authenticity to the movie that's intensified by O'Toole's expectedly masterful performance...
Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4
June 8, 2007
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.
May 18, 2007
...neither a romance nor a comedy but an engaging slice of life, a charming treat that reminds us how fragile life is.
Full Review | Original Score: 7/10
May 11, 2007
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.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4
March 16, 2007
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.
Full Review | Original Score: 7/10
March 8, 2007
Vênus 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.
| Original Score: 3/5
March 7, 2007
Venus isn't just a small-scale character study, but a thing of beauty to be treasured -- just like its star.
Full Review | Original Score: 5/5
March 5, 2007
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.
Full Review | Original Score: B+
March 4, 2007
The film is engaging. There is a good deal of humanity and a bit of nostalgia.
Full Review| Original Score: 6/10
February 23, 2007
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...
February 21, 2007
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.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5
February 21, 2007
There are scenes in Venus when rational thought seems lost to something more powerful, and ambiguous.
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4