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Venus
Under discussion:
Venus
(2006)
Although a lot of people liked
V
enus
, they claimed to like it for what I think are the wrong reasons. This is not a film about December-May sex (there is none!). Nor is it a film about
Peter
O'Toole, at 74 years of age, being able to act like an old man (duh!). So that takes care of the vast majority of criticism. So what is the movie about, anyway? This is a film about dieing. Secondarily, it's about whether young people can lean an iota from the ancient sods who are passing on.
Of course, old age and dieing is a broad subject, and, much to director Michel's credit (an excellent director!), this film is about a particular type of man. A British actor of some renown, he believed above all in giving (and, I suppose, receiving) pleasure. When an obnoxious young lower-class woman comes into his life, he does something amazing--he is, as he says, "nice." She blossoms--sort of, realistically, slowly, in fits and starts.
As the O'Toole character dies, he does a lot of things. He dances with his best friend (presumably gay), he fights with his best friend over a misunderstanding, he undergoes medical examinations, he revisits theatres of his powerful maturity, and he longs for the beauty of a woman. While he says he is interested in pleasure, his secondary and unexpressed motive is education. For how can an ignorant, uncultured, boorish woman appeal to him? I love the way he exposes her to culture, and she blossoms. (She exposes him somewhat to the opposite, and it is interesting but a mixed blessing.) But in a heart-breaking and realistic way, she doesn't blossom ideally.
My favourite shot in this sad and hopeful movie is when the O'Toole character goes to his ex-wife's place for a "last" dinner. We see them eating a gourmet meal
sans
lush candle light. It is shot through the banister with a black cat in the foreground, capturing perfectly the way in which things get in the road of unfettered human happiness. This is a precursor to the climactic scene when the old fellow dies on the beach: His last and ironic words to the young lady are (as I remember) "Now we can really talk." He dies.
posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007 1:15 AM by
JimBell
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ingrid
Posted
Monday, September 24, 2007 1:10 PM
What a lovely review, JimBell. Thanks for that. I couldn't agree more.
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