Maurice

The cast is uniformly excellent. James Wilby was not Ivory's first choice for the central role of upper-class Maurice (Daniel Day Lewis and Julian Sands were earlier contenders), but he gives an outstanding and totally plausible portrayal. Equally good is Hugh Grant, years before he found fame as the archetypal British twit. Grant's role is a difficult one; he must at first engage our sympathy and fondness, then gradually lose our respect as he seeks to enter "respectable" society. Ultimately, we come to despise his cowardice. Grant achieves all of this without descending into caricature - a considerable feat.

Rupert Graves makes a fine Alex Scudder, the lusty undergamekeeper who seduces and transforms Maurice. Apart from a slightly inconsistent accent, he, too. seems entirely plausible and fans of DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover should note that this full-blooded lad pre-dates Lawrence's own gamekeeper by many years!

An outstanding supporting cast of seasoned pros includes the late, great Denholm Elliot and Ben Kingsley in small, but pivotal roles as, respectively, a bullying doctor and a hypnotist, both of whom Maurice unsuccessfully seeks help from.

This movie has a superb period atmosphere, a leisurely but rewarding pace, plenty of understated passion, memorable music and great script-writing. Kudos to the scenarists for being so faithful to the spirit of Forster, while at the same time adding scenes to remind viewers of the real dangers for gay men in Edwardian England.

Outstanding.


Beautiful Thing.   May 1, 2002
F. Gentile (Lake Worth, Florida, United States)
23 out of 25 found this review helpful

A wonderful movie.You don't have to be gay to enjoy this film, but it helps. This post-Victorian era gay coming -of- age love story (whew!), is beautifully told and filmed, in the Merchant-Ivory tradition. James Wilby, and Hugh Grant, before he was Hugh Grant, are very touching as Maurice and Clive, as they discover "the love that dare not speak it's name". No matter your persuasion, you can't fail to be moved by their predicament in that repressed time where one could still be (and often was) jailed for homosexuality. As sometimes in real life, it is a heartbreakingly told story about the decisions sometimes forced upon us, and the ramifications and resignations of not being true to ones self, because of familial or social restrictions as to what is "normal" behavior. These charactars, especially Wilby's impeccably portrayed Maurice(pronounced "Morris"), are good, decent people, who are suffering because they cannot be who they simply are. Without giving away the ending, it is an ultimately up-lifting story about the extreme courage it sometimes takes , then as now, to be true to ones self, and, finding your dignity, in the face of a segment of society that often insists you deserve none. All of the actors, most of whom are unknown to general audiences, are wonderful, in that underplayed, classy English way, making the smallest part integral to the story. A beautiful adaptation of the E.M. Forster novel, and a wonderful love story, with various lessons for all.


A film that literally changed my life   January 28, 2000
Adrian (Ljubljana, Slovenia, Europe)
21 out of 21 found this review helpful

My story is much similar to that of Mark from San Diego. It was "Maurice" that was the reason for me to become aware of the fact how the power of motion picture is above every limit. Back in 1991, when I was an university student, I suffered from the total identification crisis, spending long sleepless nights dealing with the suicidal thoughts and the question who and what am I... like Maurice, who found himself trapped in his own gayness, trying to find the answer on that eternal question: why me! I had terrible doubts in accepting myself as one of "them", just the thought of admiting my own homosexuality frightened me to death. Then, suddenly, like a gift from heaven, this film was shown on TV on a cold, january evening. After those two hours of watching it, I realised my life will never be the same again. "Maurice" threw me into a whirl of feelings, but in a way, I felt reliefed. No more pretending. Today, ten years after, I am proud to be gay, living with my friend and all those uncertainties, surmises and questions remained on the pages of my diary...

I have "Maurice" on tape and watch it every now and then. It still has a strong effect on me, even I know every dialogue in it by heart. I watched another ecranisations like "A room with a view" and "Howard's end", but the both acts of James Wilby and Hugh Grant are so persuadive here that this is almost an paradox, having in mind that Grant is a straight male-sex symbol. The word that comes to my mind first when mentioning "Maurice", is beautifulness. Maybe this was the reason it affected me in that way - homosexual love is presented as something beautiful, romantic, non-stereotypic, longing and truthfull. Another subject, strongly presented here, is sacrifice of Maurice, who subordinated all his career and needs just to be with a love he met in Alec Scudder. The end of the film is not a real end but just a beginning of viewer's interpretation and his explaining of question whether their love has made it through. It is left for him to decide what happened after. I'd point out that "Maurice", even acting like some kind of a fairy tale, represents all types of man approaching his own homosexuality and this hasn't changed a bit over the history. Clive's tightness into straight-acting world and common-sense lifestyle is just another sight of those gays who rather choose to get married and therefore ruin the life of another woman who, in this kind of relationship, can't be nothing but victim, trying to hide from the rest of the world, but as for Clive, this turns out to be just a short-termed solution. I have a strong sense that at the final scenes when Clive replays all his tender moments with Maurice when they were together at Cambridge, he is thinking: you can fool with the rest of the world, but you just can't fool yourself. Then, Maurice, who decided to live the way that will make him happy, no matter what the British Class system might think - it is a step someone can take now a days, prepared to struggle and fight with a confinement and intolerance of the straight-majority. It is true that being gay is no more being considered as an illness or blasphemy, but things haven't changed that much as they seemed to.

If you like "Maurice", then you're going to like the book, too. I suggest you read it. It is one of the best descriptions on gay love I've ever read, especially when you have in mind this novel was written in 1910 when noone even dared to think about writing and mention this theme in a literature. I only feel sorry that this review is limited to 1,000 of words, as here is so much more to tell about... A great movie!