`VENUS' RISES ABOVE THE CLICHE WITH O'TOOLE.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

`It's been 24 hours. I'm already screaming for euthanasia!''

So says Ian (the great Leslie Phillips, 82) of his relationship with his grandniece, the barely house-trained Jessie (newcomer Jodie Whitaker), who has come to live with Ian and supposedly care for him.

Ian was looking for someone who could sort his pills and maybe prepare a nice piece of fish for dinner. Jessie fails on both counts.

But Ian's dear friend Maurice (Peter O'Toole) looks at Jessie and is able to ignore her petulance and crudeness and see something that gives him a reason to live.

As Maurice puts it: ``For most men, a woman's body is the most beautiful thing they'll ever see.'' And Maurice, a once-great actor who still gets work playing deathbed scenes, wants to drink in that beauty, seeing it almost as a holy sacrament.

``Pleasure,'' Maurice says of his philosophy of life. ``I try to give pleasure. That's all I recommend to anyone.''

``Venus'' gives pleasure and then some. It's a marvelous movie that manages to make you laugh and break your heart all at once as it breezily ruminates on youth and mortality, beauty and brittleness.

And it gives the grand O'Toole, graceful and defiant as ever, a role to match the triumphs of his past. You can't take your eyes off him, not that you'd want to.

``Venus'' takes a familiar genre -- the May-December romance -- and imbues it with a freshness and honesty that transcends the trappings.

The movie's vitality comes from writer Hanif Kureishi (``My Beautiful Laundrette''), so gifted at shifting moods, and underrated director Roger Michell (``Notting Hill''), who has long demonstrated an ability to convincingly handle just about any genre.

There's a touch of ``Pygmalion'' here, with Maurice introducing Jessie to the finer things in life. He doesn't expect much in return. ``You cheer me up,'' he tells her. Jessie blossoms and recognizes the source of her growth, even if she is impatient sometimes with his forwardness.

While Jessie lets Maurice kiss her (just on the neck, provided he doesn't slobber), their relationship remains chaste, deepening into genuine friendship. There are also a number of satisfying scenes between old lions Maurice and Ian, as well as Maurice and his ex-wife, played by the wondrous Vanessa Redgrave.

So you have Redgrave and Phillips, not to mention Richard Griffiths, along with Whitaker's dazzling debut. But it goes without saying that ``Venus'' belongs to the 74-year-old O'Toole, who expressed genuine misgivings three years ago when accepting a lifetime achievement Oscar.

``I'm still in the game,'' he wrote the academy, saying he wanted to ``win the lovely bugger outright.''

With his magnificent turn here in ``Venus,'' he should.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

[e-mail]

VENUS - Three and one half stars

(R: language, some sexual content, brief nudity)

Starring: Peter O'Toole, Leslie Phillips, Jodie Whitaker, Vanessa Redgrave.

Director: Roger Michell.

Running time: 1 hr. 34 min.

Playing: Laemmle's Royal in West Los Angeles.

In a nutshell: Funny, heartbreaking meditation on beauty and mortality with the great Peter O'Toole giving a performance that matches past triumphs.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Peter O'Toole, here with newcomer Jodie Whitaker, proves he's still grand and graceful in ``Venus,'' a fresh approach to the May-December romance genre.