Venus (2006)

Any movie that makes you 'think' and 'feel' is a good one in my view, and worthy of seeing. It's a bonus if it's entertaining, and if it manages to engage you, as well as maintain your interest.

To that extent of thinking and feeling, I really liked Venus.

If you can get past the seeming lechery, and the rather inappropriate/taboo subject matter - this really is a movie that tries to engage and explore something very valid and meaningful. Perhaps you wouldn't have expected anything less from Film4, which always seems to aspire for something edgy, contemporary and powerful (Trainspotting, The Last King of Scotland). Venus is no different.

Jean-Luc Godard's 'Cinema is Truth' echoes omnipresent for me whilst watching this: How does one cope with old age?... What does one do about lust, and desire in advanced years. Is it wholly wrong to 'want' that which seems out of reach?

To have gone for something full-on and explicit would have been profoundly distasteful. The Direction is more subtle, not shy about adressing the issue (with it's rather brash and abrupt dialogue delivered by old codgers!), but with a necessary reserve that's both comedic (at first), and tragic at the same time.

There's an air of sophistication about the movie that is persistently dismantled by Jodie Whitaker's presence - a certain balance that feels just about right. Found her initially quite annoying, with a rather fabricated exaggeration of the teenage chav/townie... But we become more sympathetic towards her, as she becomes more humbled throughout the movie...

Perhaps distinct from the male protagonist in 'Lolita', Peter O Toole plays a rather endearing and sympathetic character, and we, as an audience, feel a most definite affinity for him by the end of the movie.

Love the art/imagery of the movie too - that seems very deliberate, and not at all overly contrived. The closing scenes for Peter O Toole I found particularly powerful in a subtle way: showing someone who was a sensual and sexual being to the end.

I wonder if death would really have such a profound effect on me. I have known people who have died, but never anyone close, or someone who I was personally close to. What legacy would be left, what legacy would I leave behind?... Yeah, i know, pretty damn depressing - but something that I thought about during and following the movie. Powerful stuff indeed.

Other notes to add:
- Romantic love being all-too-consuming.
- The Christian notion of forgiveness
- Punishment for sin?...

Rating: 8/10