By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Roger Michell
Starring: Jodie Whittaker | Leslie Phillips | Lynn Redgrave | Peter O’Toole | Richard Griffiths
Country: united_kingdom
Year: 2007
Running time: 112
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489327/
Bruce says: “O’Toole plays Maurice, a well-known actor with a reputation as a womanizer, who is definitely in his twilight
years. He and his friend Ian (Leslie Phillips) fret about recurring infirmities and approaching senility. Maurice occasionally stops by to see his wife Valerie (Vanessa Redgrave) and teases her with false affection. There is a daily tea ritual at a local shop where Ian and Maurice quibble over endless topics with their friend Donald (Richard Griffiths).
“When Ian’s niece comes to help take care of him, Ian is furious. Jessie (Jodie Whittaker), the niece, is a real piece of work. She is truly without any sophistication whatsoever. No style, no sensitivity, no interests, no manners – this girl is lacking in every way. Maurice, however, spots potential and decides to take her on as a sort of challenge. But Maurice is not magnanimous; he has ulterior motives. When Maurice is diagnosed with prostate cancer, the games the characters are playing seem quite petty.
“The script is clumsy; the direction is abstruse. Roger Michell (THE MOTHER, ENDURING LOVE, PERSUASION) has created a film without a point of view or purpose. Since the supporting actors do such a fine job, the blame is most easily placed on the two leads. Chances are the two main characters are horribly miscast. On the surface O’Toole is appropriately dissolute and Whittaker is certainly déclassé. But neither O’Toole nor Whittaker seems to have a grasp of their respective roles. In fairness Hanif Kureishi gives them little to hone. The burning question is: how can such an assemblage of talent produce so little?
“At the end of the film there are two lovely scenes, one with Vanessa Redgrave and the other with Leslie Phillips and Richard Griffiths. Too little, too late for VENUS; and certainly not worth the wait. 1.5 cats”