Author Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Laundrette) teams up again with director Roger Michell whom Kareishi previously trusted to turn his stories (The Mother, and The Buddha of Suburbia) into films. Kareishi has never been one to shy away from controversial subject matter and his skill in creating believable, flawed, yet likable characters endears him to readers and film goers.

In Venus, Kureishi explores a dying actor’s desire for a teenage girl.  As the once handsome, now decrepit Maurice, Peter O'Toole gives an astounding performance as a man who knows he has not long to live and cannot conceal his appreciation of the beauty of teenage Jessie (Jodie Whittaker). Comparisons to Pygmalion and Lolita and My Fair Lady are blatantly obvious. However, Maurice’s attempts at bringing culture to Jessie are laughable; she is far too independent and strong willed to be seduced or impressed by him. He takes Jessie to galleries, shows her famous nudes, and finds her a life-modelling job. Jessie is ever aware of her sexual allure and Maurice’s desire for her, but she keeps him at a distance and remains in control of the situation.

The intensity of their friendship is kept somewhat secret from Jessie’s great-uncle Ian (Leslie Phillips) who is also Maurice’s best friend and a fellow aging actor. The differences between how Ian and Maurice experience old age is delightfully expressed in an early scene where they sort out their medication. Ian, who admits to suffering “chronic anxiety” is keen for the sedatives, but, for Maurice, who still wants to live life to the full, it is the pills that keep one awake that he desires. Jessie enters their lives when Ian’s niece sends her to London to look after him. For Ian this disruption to his routine and intrusion in his space is intolerable and he heads straight for the sleeping pills. Maurice, on the other hand, is completely intrigued by her, and they quickly form a friendship, which delights Maurice intensely. 

At first, Maurice is unable to see her as anything more than an object of beauty, an angelic figure, almost a gift from heaven for his eyes to enjoy in his last days. However, as much as he would like to sleep with her, he admits to being incapable of the act anymore, a far cry from his younger years as is revealed when he visits his ex-wife Valerie (Vanessa Redgrave). Once a handsome and popular actor, with many lovers, Maurice is now a frail man, still with wit and style, but lacking the beauty and vigour that once almost defined him. Through Jessie, Maurice hopes to find that spark again, but he soon discovers she is not just a pretty girl he can easily charm, seduce and discard.  In Venus, in Jessie, the fetishized female figure in art is given the voice of a sassy young woman who talks back, makes limits, and is never pushed beyond her boundaries. Despite his initial lecherous desires, Maurice discovers some of Jessie’s hidden sorrows and they form a touching bond that, of course, scandalises Ian and the whole neighbourhood (although the sight of two decrepit older men fighting like girls is rather hilarious at this point and acts to dissipate the building tension).

The film’s premise of an old man chasing after a girl young enough to be his granddaughter seems disturbing, and may seem distasteful to those women who are survivors of sexual assault and incest. The act of an older man violating a young woman is one of our society’s most abhorrent and damaging acts. However, what Kureishi has done in Venus is to make clear that Maurice is not manipulating or forcing himself on Jessie. Maurice is not behaving like a predator or a paedophile because he does not abuse his power, perhaps because his old age had disempowered him, or perhaps because he is a decent man who desires her company more than her body.

All the more alluring because she is unattainable, Maurice’s courtship of Jessie is tinged with tragedy as it becomes very tempting for her to exploit his infatuation. Their friendship begins based on a mutual desire to take advantage of each other, yet it evolves into a partnership of selflessness. Aristotle saw three motivations for friendship which put simply are: use value; character value; and care for another’s welfare. At first, Maurice and Jessie spend time together out of convenience, because they can see that they may be of use to each other. It is not long before they become emotionally close and learn more of each other’s lives and dreams and thus they value each other’s character and personality. As the film draws to a close they have reached what Aristotle considered the highest form of friendship – they are together because they care for each other’s well-being. It is a difficult journey to make – from caring only for what one can get, to instead caring only about one can give.

Although the famous nude which is frequently seen in this film is Velazquez's Venus and Cupid, which depicts the backside of the goddess as she vainly gazes at her own reflection, the film also makes reference to another famous depiction of the classical deity. One of the last scenes takes place at a beach, but it is in essence a moment very opposite to La Nasceti de Venere (The Birth of Venus) while equally paying homage to Botticelli’s most famous painting of the goddess emerging from the ocean.  For Maurice, the ocean is enticing but it is too cold for him to survive, while for Jessie it is a barren and dull landscape that she endures and accepts.  Maurice and Jessie see the world through such different eyes, that their love for each other is transcendent, taboo, surprising to both of them, and most of all, a chance to escape themselves, one from approaching death, the other from the fear of the unknown realm of adulthood.


Venus
2006

Director: Roger Michell
Screenwriters: Hanif Kureishi
Cinematographer: Haris Zambarloukos
Editor: Nicolas Gaster
Original Music: Corinne Bailey Rae, David Arnold
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Leslie Phillips, Jodie Whittaker, Vanessa Redgrave