Venus

Venus (Roger Michell, 2006) - B+

I was ready to be the voice of backlash on this, but I must admit it's a lovely send-off (?) for O'Toole, who proves equally adept at heavy drama and slapstick at the formidable age of 74. I could say it's about Dying With Dignity, but that makes it sound more boring and clichéd than it is, and The Sea Inside this ain't: it's more about rising above the depressing situation where death is the default position and anything more than that is gravy. What struck me was the inconsiderate nonchalance of the doctors and the nurses, who seem to think that O'Toole's elderly thespian should leap in the air with glee at any suggestion that he's not about to keel over: one attempts to engage in idle chit-chat while administering a prostate exam; two gossip among themselves while sticking him with needles; a fourth curtly pronounces that though impotence and incontinence are sure to follow the operation, Maurice will emerge alive. It's a nightmare of indifference, which is what all the film's characters seem to be struggling with -- but love is the answer, as it usually is, and the early description of Venus as love and temptation that brings with it despair and foolishness turns out to be way off as to the latter. The movie starts out off-kilter, with an oddly jerky rhythm, but then settles into a tone of wry amusement, cheerfully lingering on the unpleasant details of growing old (toenail clipping, colostomy bags) and then, in a touching display of optimism, turning them into jokes. Sweet, sad, and funny too: "Not yodeling! Yodeling? Modeling!"