Ill-Informed Gadfly

Ecstasy: No movie released in the past year has made this ephemeral feeling more gloriously permanent than “Venus,” in the scene where aging actor Maurice Russell (Peter O’Toole) and his young muse, Jessie (Jodie Whittaker), get a limo ride to a movie set. “You must be really famous,” Jessie coos. “I am,” Maurice responds, luxuriating in his ability to impress her. As Corinne Bailey Rae’s sugary neo-soul number “Put Your Records On” plays on the sound system, the driver opens the sunroof so Jessie can peer outside. She stands up, giving an unobstructed view up her short skirt to Maurice, who cranks up the stereo and rocks out.

“Venus” continues in this delightfully lecherous vein. If Maurice ever pretended to be uninterested in nubile young bodies, he’s given that up now, in the twilight of his life and confronting a prostate operation that will leave him impotent. O’Toole turns unrequited and inappropriate sexual desire into a graceful last dance. “Venus” is improbably life-affirming as it observes Maurice’s all-too-quick decay. He’s comfortable in his skin and only slightly rueful. Watch him with his ex-wife (Vanessa Redgrave), whom he cruelly left after a brief marriage, as he recalls that his greatest contribution in life was the giving of pleasure. The light in their eyes shows that he’s still capable, and that it’s a talent worth celebrating. What a splendid and thrilling late-career turn from O’Toole. To watch him is to share in Maurice’s sensual bliss.