It's heartbreaking to see Peter O'Toole. He remains a truly great actor, but I can still remember seeing him on the big screen in "Lawrence of Arabia" and being mesmerized by his beauty. It was so mesmerizing, in fact, that Noel Coward warned him people were going to call him "Florence of Arabia." In "Venus," a 2006 film, O'Toole plays an actor, Maurice, who's not aging very gracefully but still has his wits about him. He and his good friend. another actor, Ian (Leslie Phillips) spend a lot of time together. Ian has a lot of aches and pains but now has some help - a great-niece, Jessie (Jodie Whittaker). He is rather excited about her coming to live with him, even going so far as to get her a pink towel. The next day, Ian tells Maurice that his great-niece is a horror. When Maurice meets her, though, he has a different impression. So different that he names her "Venus" after his favorite painting.Jessie in fact is a somewhat slovenly, sullen, overly made up young woman with good legs. She wants to model, so Maurice gets her a job modeling nude for an art class. Over time, a relationship develops. It's not really sexual, as Maurice is dealing with prostate cancer, and surgery has rendered him impotent, but he obviously fantasizes.As much as Jessie protests, she likes the attention. She occasionally lets him smell her neck or touch her hand, but that's it. Maurice is reliving the years when he was a true ladies' man. He left his wife (Vanessa Redgrave) with three children under the age of six for another woman, and one assumes the other woman was just a stopgap until the next one.Jessie's feelings towards Maurice evolve into something like caring, but along the way, she uses him to buy her nice things, and at one point asks him to leave his flat so she and her boyfriend can have sex. She also talks with him like a friend and seems to enjoy spending time with him. The big thing about Maurice is that he cares for her unreservedly, which is not something her parents did."Venus" is a lovely story with a great soundtrack, but the film is O'Toole's as he plays a faded actor dealing with old age and facing death. He has one last gasp at feeling young, flirting, and doing the things that young men do. And he makes us realize the saddest thing about old age. Inside you're still twenty-something. It's your body that lets you down.I've never seen Jodie Whittaker in anything else. She was so perfect in the role, I have no idea if she was acting or not. I suspect given her other credits that she was, and she did a masterful job playing a complicated young woman who hasn't quite figured out who she is yet.Leslie Phillips is also wonderful as Ian, a fussy old man for whom the very presence of his great-niece is offensive. The scene in their hangout, a coffee shop, is hilarious. He is so incensed that Maurice has her posing for art students that the two get into a fight, causing Maurice to utter my subject line. It's only one line in a script with fabulous dialogue. Vanessa Redgrave has a very small role but registers well. When doesn't she? A poignant, bittersweet film.

The story is a about an old man who is quite a famous actor. He meets a young, sort of lower class girl who has just moved into town with nothing. They strike up a peculiar relationship and Maurice, the old man, falls head over heels for this woman who he thinks is just the most beautiful thing on earth. This film is full of laughs and the older characters are just full of spirit and vigor. This film also has a lot of Corinne Bailey Rae if your any fan of her music. The acting is quite superb all around. I don't really like the ending because it has the feeling of a slow release more than anything else. But that's just how it goes, can't blame the story line it's just not my cup of tea. There is a cool fight scene if you watch it in which there's a cool judo move preformed. It's definitely a great film to watch if you don't mind a film about old people.

Cinema has had a number of stains and gems regarding the taboo of old-meets-young in sexual relationships. Unfortunately, Peter O'Toole's quirkily misplaced majestic performance seems to have been wasted on this skid mark, devoid of any genuine justification for the risqué exploits of a perverted old man desperate to swap fluids with his twenty-year-old crush. Now, this following romance movie attribute is accepted, and expected: when boy meets girl, there is initial disdain from at least one party, resulting in a rough start to the inevitable love story, reinforcing the old convention, "The more they hate each other, the more likely they'll fall in love by the end of the movie." Here you'll find the most unbelievable and ridiculous presentation of this story element that reinforces nothing of value.Famed dramatic actor Maurice Russell, in the twilight of his seventies, meets his friend's grandniece and new nurse, Jessie. He is immediately smitten by her, and just as soon brings out the alcohol in hopes she will submit. The rest of the film is plagued with sequences of lowbrow ribaldry, with some occasional heartfelt moments on the side that are overpowered by the former, if only just.After several borderline hilarious establishing scenes showing old British men with filthy mouths exchanging medications like junkies and discussing obituaries as if in a Monty Python sketch, the film takes a turn for the painfully awkward.With Venus, this awkwardness simply does not stop. Maurice charms Jessie with the gentlemanly charisma only O'Toole can convey; Jessie is treated like a princess; the princess is then groped; she retreats, tells Maurice she never wants to see him again, and he rustles out the ideal gravelling laugh of an old pervert. Repeat. Again. And again, only more rude.The intermittent scenes of Maurice with his friends, visits with his estranged old flame, and solitary moments with his thoughts seem to have heart, but we don't feel the beat. Stanley Kubrick handled this taboo sub-genre perfectly with Lolita, not exploiting a single element, and capturing our sympathy for an older man who discovers his lust and love may be confused. Venus takes the opposite route, exploiting the taboo to the point where Jessie is a character we love to hate, and Maurice turns out to be nothing more than a shameless, horny old man.All things considered, there are only two things that nearly saved it for me. One is, of course, Peter O'Toole's performance, which beautifies his character with a surprising occasional elegance. The other is an important plot element that sadly confuses the film: Maurice, after prostate surgery, is impotent. Does this mean that his licentious erotic tendencies are the result of true love? Probably not. This was, perhaps, a simple plot device inserted only for the purpose of gaining understanding for his character, and some consideration that he is more that just a horny geezer.There are many who hail this film as a near-perfect romantic comedy, as touching as it is funny, etc. This pablum is unjustified because any substance or underlying meaning to this "love story" can only be described as ludicrous. How could it not? This certainty speaks for itself, namely when Jessie touches herself and allows Maurice to smell her fluids, yet tries to slap him when he tries to lick her fingers. I am not making this up. If this does not disturb or confuse you, by all means, enjoy the movie.I hate to describe a Peter O'Toole film as trash, but I have to say Venus is a horribly miscalculated and vain excuse for a seldom-attempted type of love story. As I anticipated, it is worthy of a single viewing only for him, proving that he is among the greatest actors of his generation, and the last hope for modern theatres to be graced with silver screens once again. That being said, I just wish this film hadn't been given the same inventive value of a watered-down dime novel dragged through a muddy gutter. Putting it delicately.

Firstly, regarding the comments from "brocksilvey", they are very good except for the part that O'Toole should get an Oscar before he dies. It is important to note that O'Toole has won an Oscar. In 962 he won for Lawrence of Arabia, which is probably one of the best films ever made and he certainly gave a great performance. I also agree that he was magnificent in "The Lion in Winter". Now regarding "Venus". I did not like this movie subject matter, (a bit too dark for me). Nonetheless, I certainly appreciate the performances of both young and seasoned actors. It gets across the sense of loss that people who have lived in the limelight experience when they are no longer the center of attention. Also it exposes the general abandonment that many older people suffer as their friends and family of like-age begin to die. However, this movie does it without the usual over-the-top melodrama usually associated with "golden" age movies. Nor does it astray into unrealistic "old people can do anything" nonsense.Well balanced and very well performed.