One of the benefits of having worked at the local newspaper is that I am welcome at the regular press screenings of upcoming films at the arthouse theater. It had been awhile and today my friend Annie invited me to come see the new Peter O'Toole flick, "Venus."
First, let me say. Oh My God. How is it that Peter O'Toole can still be gorgeous at, what is he?, eighty-something? His wild life is written all over his agile face, his long luxurious limbs are still limber and steady in slapstick, and his voice is steady and sexy.
But if it wasn't Peter O'Toole sliding his hand down the shoulder and around the breast of Venus, his best friend's country-raised niece, who is maybe all of 17--if it was, say, my eighty-something uncle, I would have walked out of the theater. The baby boomers are getter older and this is a classic old man fantasy flick. I was creeped out.
And I liked it.
Okay, I love Peter O'Toole, who in this film is married to Lynn Redgrave who he abandoned with three children under six many years before. He takes Venus off his best friend, Ian's hands. Ian asks, "What is it that a man your age can do with a girl like her?" O'Toole says, "It's very difficult. I'm nice to her."And we watch Venus, an angry teen who's been kicked out her home after a forced abortion, slowly and sometimes violently unfold under O'Toole's gaze. And sometimes, touch.
That's all I'm going to tell you except that I was many times moved. I laughed a lot. One of the best scenes is Ian and O'Toole waltzing together. It's a beautiful movie about old age, love and death. And Venus rises whole from it all.
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