Redgrave is sole virtue of 'Venus'

By Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times

•	'Venus and Mars' R, for sexuality and strong language 94 minutes

The contrast between her and her callow co-stars sets off a fine example of screen acting on her part — of how to bring dimension and individuality to a supporting role using a combination of technique and imagination and above all, by suggesting the character has an interior life. The versatile and witty Redgrave always brings more to her roles than what's in the script.

In "Venus and Mars," which is not exactly terrible, but merely stale and pointless, she is a military wife long abandoned by her husband, who has left her to raise their children in a quaint German town near a U.S. Air Force base. Redgrave's Emily has made the best of it and gets a kick out of astrology and tarot cards.

The impending funeral of the local high school's beloved soccer coach has triggered a reunion of her daughter Kay (Daniela Lunkewitz, who has since adopted the surname Amavia), in from Frankfurt, and three classmates. Celeste (Fay Masterson) has married a rich local guy with whom she is bored, and Marie (Julia Sawalha), who is weighed down by small children and a workaholic husband, laments that romance has faded from her marriage.

Kay has had such bad luck with men that she insists she has given up on them, while Lisa (Julie Bowen), a successful businesswoman, is in desperate pursuit of one.

Just as the four friends gather, Emily announces that since Venus and Mars will be lining up, someone is sure to fall in love.

Because Harry Mastrogeorge's direction is as routine and uninspired as Ben Taylor's writing, what happens next is predictable and of minimal interest. Similarly, none of the four young actresses displays any distinction or much personality.

So much for celestial alignment.