Venus

Growing old disgracefully was always going to be Peter O'Toole's way, and this film expresses that very ideal, studying the mutually manipulative relationship between this veteran actor and his mate's granddaughter (Jodie Whittaker). Written by Hanif Kureishi, it's a brutally honest dissection of beauty and decay, with Vanessa Redgrave as the ex-wife and Leslie Phillips and Richard Griffiths as the drinking buddies and co-nostalgics providing the best moments. Above all this feels like Socrates on trial; a troublesome and ignored old Greek arbitrarily charged with corrupting the day's youth, he disregarded the threat of a death sentence and instead used the opportunity of an unwitting Senate audience as one last chance to describe the world as he saw it, with all the cynicism and oratory he could muster. A final stage for one of the theatre greats, Venus is nowhere near O'Toole's best, but still deserves a cheer. [Alec McLeod]