Men are from Mars, Women....answer to Venus?!

The story follows Maurice & Ian (Peter O'Toole & Leslie Phillips), a pair of aging actors who never quite hit the big time. Now in their "Golden Years" Maurice continues to work but the roles are far from glamorous (mostly corpses!) But they have a comfortable routine, meeting for breakfast in their favourite cafe with another friend, Donald (played by 'Uncle Vernon' - Richard Griffiths) where they enjoy some witty banter and discuss who they know in the 'Deaths' columns of that days papers. This easy routine is thrown by the arrival of Ian's grand-niece, Jessie (newcomer Jodie Whittaker)

Jessie quickly tries her great-uncles patience with her inability to cook & clean and her bad attitude towards everyone she meets. Maurice, on the other hand finds her totally enthralling & takes her under his wing, attempting to introduce her to the cultural sights of London. Jessie runs hot and cold, sometimes showing a lost and vulnerable side when her guard is down but quickly switching back to her 'world-weary, no-one can hurt me' attitude and often taking advantage of the strength of Maurice's feelings for her but then feeling guilty about it. As Maurice tries to giver her the benefit of his experience he is surprised to see how little he really knows about todays world and how he fits into it. Jessie slowly learns from Maurice the value of respect, not just for others but for herself.

As Maurice's life draws to a close Jessie acts as his nurse and grants him his final wish; taking him to the seaside and helping him paddle in the icy sea. When he dies, he dies a happy man with Jessie at his side. At his funeral his ex-wife Valerie (Vanessa Redgrave) offers Jessie the chance to make a go of it in London with the use of Maurice's old flat. The transformation from cocky girl to self-confident young woman is clear and you hope for her that she has learnt something that will stay with her for life from her friendship with this old man.

The film is beautifully made with great performances from a stellar cast who ironically stick two-fingers up to those casting directors who feel older actors are only good for corpses shown in the story. How Peter O'Toole has never won a Best Actor Oscar is beyond me but this year was unfortunately not going to be his year with the strength of Forest Whitaker's performance.

I don't know that I can necessarily say that I enjoyed the film but I did like it - it is undoubtedly a very evocative film, showing beautifully the vulnerability of the human race but keeping the humour.