Movie · 2006 · Comedy, Drama, Romance · 1h 35m · R · English
Curator score: 5.3/10 (17.9K ratings)
She's a real work of art.
Overview
Maurice is an aging veteran actor who becomes taken with Jessie, the grandniece of his closest friend. When Maurice tries to soften the petulant and provincial young girl with the benefit of his wisdom and London culture, their give-and-take surprises both Maurice and Jessie as they discover what they don't know about themselves.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.3/10
IMDb: 7.1/10
Letterboxd: 3.39/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
Metacritic: 82
TMDB: 6.6/10
Director
Roger Michell
Production
Film4 Productions, UK Film Council, Free Range Films, The Works
Cast
Peter O'Toole, Leslie Phillips, Jodie Whittaker, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Griffiths, Cathryn Bradshaw, Beatrice Savoretti, Philip Fox, Lolita Chakrabarti, Carolina Giammetta, Kellie Shirley, Ashley Madekwe, Ony Uhiara, Joanna Croll, Liam McKenna, Meg Wynn Owen, Sam Spruell, Tom Brooke, Harvey Virdi, Emma Buckley
Curator Review
Verdict
A bittersweet British dramedy anchored by a superb Peter O’Toole performance, Venus is smart about aging, vanity, and the uneasy gap between self-image and reality. It’s worth seeing for the acting and the rueful humor, though the central relationship can feel uncomfortable or uneven depending on your tolerance for its lecherous edge.
Best for
fans of actor-driven character studies
viewers interested in aging, regret, and late-life self-reckoning
people who like dry British dramedy with melancholy undercurrents
audiences open to morally messy relationships and ambiguous tone
Skip if
you want a warm, straightforward romance
you are sensitive to older-man/younger-woman dynamics
you prefer tightly plotted films with little meandering
you dislike characters who are intentionally abrasive or creepy
Overview
Venus is built around Peter O’Toole’s final great screen role, and he gives Maurice a mix of vanity, wit, fragility, and self-delusion that keeps the film alive even when the character is hard to like. The movie understands that aging can sharpen desire, embarrassment, and loneliness all at once, and it finds humor in that discomfort without fully smoothing it over.
Worth noting
Roger Michell directs with a light touch, letting the film drift between comedy and sadness rather than forcing a neat emotional shape. That looseness can make the story feel a little shaggy, but it also suits a film about people who are still figuring out who they are, or who they have become too late to change much.
Bottom line
The Jessie-Maurice relationship is the film’s most divisive element: sometimes perceptive, sometimes unsettling, and never entirely easy. If you can accept that tension, Venus becomes a thoughtful, unusually humane portrait of vanity, performance, and the ache of looking back on a life with too little certainty.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Leighton Trent (3.5★) · 121 likes
Only Peter O'Toole could've made this character, an old man with a young libido, as endearing as this film shouldn't be. That it is also somehow a delicate treatise on ageism and what that number that you are really means is all the more surprising considering how lecherous the film might appear to be on the surface. Let's face it, only one of the greatest actors could've made this story work in a way that other legends probably couldn't have… more Only Peter O'Toole could've made this character, an old man with a young libido, as endearing as this film shouldn't be. That it is also somehow a delicate treatise on ageism and what that number that you are really means is all the more surprising considering how lecherous the film might appear to be on the surface. Let's face it, only one of the greatest actors could've made this story work in a way that other legends probably couldn't have… more
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (3.5★) · 72 likes
Action! - The March of the (3) Rogers: Sweep That Cam, Michell Boi!
Roger Michell returns to many of his old ways with a story that explores a section of the complexity of human life after dabbling in the suspense and thriller genres. In this case, it's ageism and how many believe that living in this world so much makes them wise, knowledgeable about it only to realize that they themselves know nothing.
Peter O'Toole plays Maurice, an actor who… more
cait (3.5★) · 47 likes
oh to be jodie whittaker taking a 74 year old peter o’toole out clubbing... here is the life i’ve always longed for
TajLV (3★) · 28 likes
"I am about to die and I know nothing about myself." ~ Maurice
This Roger Michell-directed British dramedy earned Peter O'Toole his eighth and final Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, coming after his 2003 Honorary Oscar for a lifetime of creating memorable characters. He was a robust 74 years old when he played the ailing actor Maurice Russell, who manages to revive his passion for life through an encounter with his friend's grand-niece Jessie (Jodie Whitaker). He playfully refers… more
anne_f_ (4.5★) · 23 likes
An ageing actor with a well-deserved reputation as a womaniser falls in love with a manipulative, unlikeable young woman. I liked the performances of Peter O'Toole, Leslie Phillips and Richard Griffiths, who were great together, whilst the 'relationship' between O'Toole and Jodie Whittaker was very thought-provoking. My only gripe with the film was (without giving anything away) their last scenes together - those who have seen the film will know what I am referring to.
Teenagers who are appalled by… more An ageing actor with a well-deserved reputation as a womaniser falls in love with a manipulative, unlikeable young woman. I liked the performances of Peter O'Toole, Leslie Phillips and Richard Griffiths, who were great together, whilst the 'relationship' between O'Toole and Jodie Whittaker was very thought-provoking. My only gripe with the film was (without giving anything away) their last scenes together - those who have seen the film will know what I am referring to.
Teenagers who are appalled by… more
2012 · Drama, Comedy, Romance · 1h 38m · PG-13 · Curator 3.7/10 (7.4K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Starz, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A warm, witty film about old performers, pride, and the stubbornness of artistic identity.