VENUS PETER is a quiet, reflective kind of film that looks at the experiences of growing up in the 1940s on Orkney. It's based on autobiographical events and features a good amount of character depth although little in the way of narrative structure or incident. There are similarities to the likes of KES but this film doesn't have the same kind of power, although there are certain affecting moments like the publicised whale scene. The cast is rather good and features a surprising amount of familiar faces, from TV stalwart David Hayman to FRIGHTMARE baddie Sheila Keith.
5 Reviews
Island cycle of life
Prismark1020 July 2019
Released after the death of one of its main stars Ray McAnally. Venus Peter is based on Christopher Rush's semi autobiographical novel.
This small scale whimsical film is beautiful to look at, evocative in spirit but it has been largely forgotten. 30 years on, no one had written a review for it on IMDB.
Set in the harsh insular Orkney Island fishing community in the late 1940s. Young Peter lives with his mother and her family. His father is absent and no one willing to talk about his whereabouts. His grandfather (Ray McAnally) is a fisherman concerned about new nets that catches anything and everything. His elderly aunt likes poetry but life at school is miserable until his teacher dies and a better more appreciative teacher then appears.
The film has no narrative. It is a film lost in mysticism, maybe magical realism. Peter is a dreamer and a fantasist. There is a focus on the importance of the church and the sea. There is a whale that becomes beached. Peter gets chased by a blind man. Eventually his father shows up, Peter thought he might have died but he has money.
There is a good resemblance with the young actor who plays Peter and Peter Caffrey who played his father. However this is a frustrating film because it makes little sense. It relies on imagery but when it ends you just wonder what it was all about. Maybe director Ian Sellar was influenced by Terrence Malick.
This small scale whimsical film is beautiful to look at, evocative in spirit but it has been largely forgotten. 30 years on, no one had written a review for it on IMDB.
Set in the harsh insular Orkney Island fishing community in the late 1940s. Young Peter lives with his mother and her family. His father is absent and no one willing to talk about his whereabouts. His grandfather (Ray McAnally) is a fisherman concerned about new nets that catches anything and everything. His elderly aunt likes poetry but life at school is miserable until his teacher dies and a better more appreciative teacher then appears.
The film has no narrative. It is a film lost in mysticism, maybe magical realism. Peter is a dreamer and a fantasist. There is a focus on the importance of the church and the sea. There is a whale that becomes beached. Peter gets chased by a blind man. Eventually his father shows up, Peter thought he might have died but he has money.
There is a good resemblance with the young actor who plays Peter and Peter Caffrey who played his father. However this is a frustrating film because it makes little sense. It relies on imagery but when it ends you just wonder what it was all about. Maybe director Ian Sellar was influenced by Terrence Malick.
Great photography alone does not make a fine film
malcolmgsw3 September 2019
A supremely well-crafted and under-rated example of Scottish cinema at its finest.
michael-bond21 November 2019
This is a beautifully photographed and charming evocation of a childhood in a small fishing village in Fife in the late 1940s and early 50s. It was filmed in Orkney, but is based on Christopher Rush's semi-autobiographical "A Twelvemonth and a Day", set in St Monans. The first collaboration of producer Christopher Young and director Ian Sellar has many touching moments, but is never over-sentimental at any point. The eponymous Peter is brought up by his grandfather (Ray McAnally) and educated about life and beauty by his Miss Brodie-like teacher, played by the lovely Sinead Cusack. The film is episodic rather than a narrative in form, though there is a theme throughout of the boy's sense of longing for the sea and his absent father. The acting is uniformly excellent. the direction superb, and even the occasional background music appropriate and haunting. A supremely well-crafted and under-rated example of Scottish cinema at its finest.
Fairly bland and boring
torrascotia17 February 2021
I noticed this was screening on Talking Pictures so decided to give it a shot.
This seems to be quite difficult to track down and even the version screened on talking pictures had very noticeable glitches in the source video despite being shown on TV.
This is a very slow moving and apparently narrative free film which is about a boy and his family set in Fife during the 40s.
Unfortunately the main character of the small boy isn't a very good actor. However there are some familiar faces in the cast who do a good job. It's seems as if the boy idolises his absent father who only makes an appearance at the end and little is revealed about why he isn't around.
What the film does get right are some of the female characters, especially the elderly who seem to hate children. Quite a common thing in Scotland and very recognisible.
While there are some nice scenes it's not a movie that will engage anyone outside of Scotland, simply because of the language barrier.
It may be of interest to some historically due to showing some of the old culture, however there's not much to grasp storywise.
I watched this simply for the fact it's hard to find, however sometimes sometimes films are hard to find for a reason.
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