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Venus
Promotional poster for the film
Directed by	Roger Michell
Produced by	Kevin Loader
Written by	Hanif Kureishi
Starring	Peter O'Toole Leslie Phillips Jodie Whittaker Vanessa Redgrave
Music by	David Arnold Corinne Bailey Rae
Cinematography	Haris Zambarloukos
Editing by	Nicolas Gaster
Distributed by	UK: Buena Vista Pictures USA: Miramax Films
Release date(s)	2006
Running time	95 min.
Country	UK
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Venus is an Academy Award-nominated 2006 film staring Peter O'Toole, Leslie Phillips, Vanessa Redgrave and Jodie Whittaker. It is directed by Roger Michell and written by Hanif Kureishi.

The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and was put on limited release in the United States on December 15, 2006.

The plot concerns Maurice (O'Toole), an elderly actor who finds himself attracted to his friend's young great-niece Jessie (Jodie Whittaker). Maurice finds Jessie initially unfriendly but succeeds in befriending her in part due to the appeal of his celebrity status. He takes her to the National Gallery in London, England to view his favorite painting, The Rokeby Venus by the Spanish artist Velázquez. Maurice arranges for Jessie to model nude for an art class, partly because he is attracted to her and hopes to watch the artists at work. When he is asked to step out he finds a bucket to stand on so he can peep into the room but falls and is found out. As a result of Jessie posing for the art class he decides to give her the nickname "Venus". Maurice and Jessie develop a passive/aggressive friendship over the course of the film. Maurice also likes touching and smelling Jessie, which she occasionally allows to a limited extent, like touching her hand, and smelling her neck. Maurice buys gifts for Jessie.

Jessie becomes involved with a boy. She and the boy visit Maurice so they can borrow his apartment to have sex. Maurice comes back and throws them out, at which point the boy calls Maurice a dirty old man. Maurice hits the boy, and the boy hits Maurice, which causes Maurice to fall and get injured. After the incident Jessie is remorseful and agrees to look after Maurice. Some time later after Maurice has at least partly recovered he takes Jessie to the coast and as they sit down by the water Maurice says to Jessie "Now we can really talk" and dies in her arms.

The film opened to generally positive reviews from American critics ^[1]. It was nominated for five British Independent Film Awards and earned Oscar, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, Broadcast Film Critics Association and Golden Globe nominations for O'Toole as Best Actor. Leslie Phillips also received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

O'Toole's Oscar nomination marked his eighth Best Actor nomination over a span of forty-five years.^[2] However, on February 25, 2007 at the 79th Academy Awards, he was bested by Forest Whitaker, making his eight nominations without victory a record.

• Peter O'Toole as Maurice
• Leslie Phillips as Ian
• Jodie Whittaker as Jessie
• Vanessa Redgrave as Valerie
• Richard Griffiths as Donald
• Cathryn Bradshaw as Jillian

1. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/venus
2. ^ http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=list

• Venus at the Internet Movie Database
• The Times Film Review: Venus
• Review of Venus in ignore Magazine
• Venus Reviews at Metacritic
• 'Venus' director talks of talent and O'Toole