From Ivana Redwine,
Your Guide to DVD.
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Peter O'Toole Dazzles in a Witty, Poignant Film

"For most men, a woman's body is the most beautiful thing they will ever see." That's what randy old actor Maurice Russell (Peter O'Toole) says in Venus (2006), a literate, upbeat little British movie about mortality. When Maurice makes this pronouncement, he's in London's National Gallery, standing in front of Velázquez's only nude, the Rokeby Venus. He is scheduled to go into the hospital soon for prostate surgery.

In Venus, O'Toole gives a brilliant performance, and it earned him yet another Academy Award nomination for Best Actor (his eighth). This time around he portrays Maurice, an urbane elderly actor who is now reduced to taking occasional small roles in TV dramas. Maurice and his wife joke that he is typecast playing "a corpse, more or less."

Even as Maurice's health is failing, he becomes obsessed with a physically attractive, unschooled woman five decades his junior. In some ways the story is reminiscent of Pygmalion and Lolita. But there is lots of humor in Venus, and it is quite contemporary in its frankness about sexuality.

A Cast of Old Pros Plus One Impressive Newcomer

Although Venus showcases the talents of O'Toole, the movie has a strong supporting cast. Maurice is pals with two other elderly troupers, Ian (Leslie Phillips) and Donald (Richard Griffiths), who sit around a coffee shop talking about the obituaries of fellow thespians. Ian and Donald are grumpy oldsters, and Griffiths evokes chuckles with lines like, "Kill the young! Exterminate their disgusting happiness and hope!"

Phillips, who is famous in Britain as the guy who says "ding dong" when he sees a good-looking woman, has won several awards for his portrayal of Ian in Venus. It's Ian's grandniece who causes all the fuss in the film. He finds her "horrible, foul and vile beyond belief." The day after her arrival, he says, "It's hardly been 24 hours, already I'm screaming for euthanasia."

Ian's grandniece Jessie is played by newcomer Jodie Whittaker, a young actress who more than holds her own with the veterans in the cast. Jessie is rather coarse, working-class and provincial. But she's not at all innocent, and when lecherous old Maurice becomes infatuated with her, she proves to be very manipulative.

Vanessa Redgrave appears in only three scenes in the movie, but it's important to have someone of her caliber play Maurice's wife Valerie. Maurice and Valerie have been separated for decades at the time the story takes place, but they have a civilized relationship. About two-thirds of the way through the film, Redgrave and O'Toole, both of whom have long been in the pantheon of English-language actors, do a scene together that will leave you with a lump in your throat.

Story, Locations, Music

Venus starts out darkly comic, then moves into pathos and finally comes back with an upbeat ending. The tonal transitions are daunting, and they are not always handled smoothly. Also, the character of Jessie has an arc, but her transformation occurs too abruptly. Still, the fine acting and skillfulness of the filmmaking make these story flaws less noticeable. For those of us caught up in the movie, we willingly forgive these blemishes.

Despite the film's limited budget — about three million pounds according to the producer on the DVD audio commentary — it is visually engaging, mainly because of the locations. Much of the shooting was done in a part of London called Kentish Town, which is made to look very charming. Also, Maruice moves through an interesting world that includes the Royal Court Theatre and the Covent Garden Actors' Church, where we see memorial plaques for Boris Karloff, Robert Shaw and Laurence Harvey.

The movie uses an unexpected mix of music that is effective in the context of the story. Part of the time we hear classical music composed by Satie, Dvorák and Mozart. But at other times we hear pop tunes by Corinne Bailey Rae, including her hit song "Put Your Records On." Stores that carry her albums usually classify them as R&B/Soul.

A Good Making-Of Featurette Plus Four Deleted Scenes

The DVD contains an entertaining 14-minute making-of featurette titled "Venus, a Real Work of Art." This gives us a chance to see what the screenwriter, the director and the producer look like, but best of all, we get to hear from Peter O'Toole. His slightly tongue-in-cheek description of the movie: "I'd say it's about a dirty old man and a sluttish young woman." But more seriously, he says, "The arbitrary whims and urges of our sexuality are beyond anyone's reckoning."

O'Toole describes his colleague Leslie Phillips as "a proper, brass-bowelled old pro." For his part, Phillips claims he's been an actor for 70 years and worked with Vanessa Redgrave's father in 1938.

Also on the DVD are four short deleted scenes with a total running time of less than four minutes. None are bad, but neither do any of them contribute much to the story, and they were presumably cut to maintain the film's brisk pacing.

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