Venus

A film set in London. Maurice is an old actor. He takes only small parts now; the man in the hospital bed, the grandfather who dies, the old man on a trolley. He meets his friend Ian every day. The same café, the same table, the same subjects. Ian's niece arrives. She has been sent to look after him. Jessie is twenty. Coarse, uninterested, and she does not want to do anything. Ian tires of her at once. Maurice takes an interest. From there the film is a story of approach. The two go about the city. He shows her museums. He shows her a painting; a Venus. She is bored but keeps coming. Maurice's interest is plainly sexual. The narrative does not hide it and does not romanticise it either. Jessie uses it. She asks for money, for clothes, for presents. He gives. What the narrative is interested in is not love but the time left: its idea is that Maurice has had prostate surgery, can do nothing sexually any more, and that the desire does not end. She knows that too. The relationship is not equal and the narrative makes that plain in every scene. There is his former wife as well. Valerie left him years ago and they still see each other. That relationship is the most mature thing in the film. Maurice falls ill at the end. Jessie is with him. The last section takes place by the sea. Peter O'Toole plays the part without ever begging sympathy and was nominated for the best actor Oscar; it was the eighth nomination of his career. The screenplay is by Hanif Kureishi. Roger Michell directed. Peter O'Toole, Leslie Phillips, Jodie Whittaker, Richard Griffiths and Vanessa Redgrave are in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes British character drama and uncomfortable relationships. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a clean feeling; the narrative never absolves the relationship at its centre and some scenes are directly unpleasant.