Reviews of Venus continued...
Bloomberg: "'Beautiful' O'Toole Still Charming, Cranky at 74: Rainer File."
By Peter Rainer
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Peter O'Toole, 74, is wonderful as an aging rogue in the new film ``Venus.'' This should come as no surprise since he's been wonderful from the beginning, starting with his first major role in David Lean's ``Lawrence of Arabia.'' No actor ever kicked off his career more auspiciously.
Lean actually had Marlon Brando in mind for Lawrence, and Albert Finney was another early contender. When he was cast, O'Toole had been a member of the Bristol Old Vic company and a secondary player in films like ``The Savage Innocents'' and ``The Day They Robbed the Bank of England.'' However, Lean recognized a majesty in O'Toole that was perfect for Lawrence.
He needed an actor beautiful enough to upstage the vast desert panoramas. After he saw the film, Noel Coward supposedly said, ``If he was any more beautiful, they'd have to call it `Florence of Arabia.'''
With his hawkish features, blinding blond hair and radioactive blue eyes, O'Toole is a magnificent camera subject in ``Lawrence of Arabia.'' His bristling passion and savage melancholy were far beyond the waxworks heroism of the standard Hollywood icon, but his greatest acting came later.
In ``Becket'' (1964), O'Toole plays King Henry II opposite Richard Burton's Archbishop of Canterbury. It's a peerlessly strange performance in which Henry's overfond attachment to Becket becomes the film's driving force. Seen today, the film is closer to ``Brokeback Mountain'' than to a typical Hollywood historical pageant.
`Lion in Winter'
In ``The Lion in Winter'' (1968), O'Toole again played Henry II, this time opposite Katharine Hepburn's Eleanor of Aquitane, and he was suitably lionish. O'Toole is one of the few actors who can roar his lines and still give them the subtlest of shadings.
A year later O'Toole gave what may be his best performance in ``Goodbye, Mr. Chips,'' a musical remake of the 1939 war horse starring Robert Donat. Imperially fastidious, O'Toole's Mr. Chips represents the essence of the musty British scholar. But O'Toole shows us the frailty and pride beneath the persnickety facade.
Two unheralded performances followed, in the upper-class comedy ``Brotherly Love'' (1970) and especially in ``Under Milk Wood'' (1972). As the blind Captain Cat, the wraithlike O'Toole gave Dylan Thomas's dramatic poetry an ineffable lilt.
`My Favorite Year'
That same year O'Toole appeared in ``The Ruling Class'' as a royal British heir who is under the delusion he is Jesus Christ. O'Toole is so exhaustingly loony that his performance often seems more like calisthenics than acting, but the movie has its ardent admirers. The same year he starred as Don Quixote in ``Man of La Mancha''; looking as gaunt as an El Greco, he was marvelous. O'Toole had the effrontery to reach inside this Broadway kitsch and pull something great out of it.
Passing right over ``Caligula,'' we come to ``The Stunt Man'' (1980) probably the most emblematic O'Toole performance after Lawrence. He plays Eli Cross, a megalomaniacal movie director patterned on both Lean and John Huston (who directed O'Toole in ``The Bible''). He also seems to be patterned on Jesus Christ, and this time around, he got it down pat.
As the sloshed and impossibly narcissistic TV series guest star in ``My Favorite Year'' (1982), O'Toole shows off his high comic manner to best effect. He has the ability to kid his grandeur while at the same time never allowing us to forget just how grand he is. It's an unbeatable combination.
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USAToday: O'Toole shines bright in 'Venus'
Peter O'Toole's tour-de-force performance makes Venus(* * * out of four) a movie not to be missed.
Venus is sharply written with fine supporting performances, but the movie is all about O'Toole, showcasing an actor who at 72 continues to astound with the depth of his talent. Not only has he not diminished with age, but he also seems to have gained new vitality.
The film, though largely comedic, is a meditation on aging and a tribute to a long-lasting youthful spirit.
O'Toole plays Maurice, an elderly, still working actor who was married to Valerie (Vanessa Redgrave) until he left her and their children for another woman. As an octogenarian, his skirt-chasing predilections remain. This doesn't exactly make him a sympathetic fellow, but at his advanced stage of life, he seems more foolish than worrisome.
He is fascinated by Jesse, a sullen teenager (Jodie Whittaker) who is the picture of careless youth and provides a youthful tonic. For Maurice's finicky best friend Ian (a wonderful Leslie Phillips), she is a bothersome niece brought in to care for him and not doing a very effective job.
Though Maurice is rejuvenated by his association with Jesse, some of the film's best scenes are his café outings with his crotchety, well-spoken pals (Phillips and Richard Griffiths) and his lovely nostalgic encounters with Redgrave.
Maurice often comes across as ridiculous despite his roguish charm. A slapstick scene in which he spies on Jesse while she poses nude for an art class is more cringeworthy than humorous.
This is not an uplifting or chaste friendship in the style of Lost in Translation or a quirky but somehow believable May-December romance a la Harold and Maude. Maurice's obsession is at once pathetic and poignant. He is a desperate fellow, beating back the encroaching dimming of his days by clinging to a belief in passion. His mighty struggles to avoid falling into the cantankerous clutches of life's physical decline are moving. Still, there is nothing particularly admirable about him.
Jesse initially uses the old man's lust to her advantage, but a friendship evolves out of something that could have been just creepy. Each has an inherent decency. No great revelations are reached, but their association ultimately enriches both lives.
Roger Michell's direction has some flaws, including awkward travel montage and scenes that drag.
It is O'Toole's wit, inherent dignity and convincing portrayal that compel. Whether Maurice is charming or lascivious is incidental. What captivates is O'Toole's ability to so charismatically convey his character's essence. (Rated R for language, some sexual content and brief nudity. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes. Opens today in New York and Los Angeles.)