Two elderly thesps have their familiar routines disrupted by the arrival, from the North, of Ian’s niece’s daughter, a young woman with plenty of attitude but little education. Both men respond to her differently and the interest shown in her by Maurice is not simply kindly. The collision of the generation gap and the North-South divide is too much for Ian (Leslie Phillips) but is an awakening for Maurice (Peter O’Toole).He becomes fascinated by her youth, as he faces the increasing decrepitude of his own body, and each has something to learn from the other. Hugely funny and deeply moving by turns, Venus is a painfully insightful and wickedly wry look at old age; at modern manners, or the lack of them, and at relationships between old friends, ex-lovers, and new friends. Hilarious at first; poignant later; story weakened by Maurice’s implausible love and the descent into the sexual. The contrasts age –v- youth, north –v- south, culture –v- ignorance were strong enough without it.
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