Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful Film, 18 Feb 2008
Maurice, which is based on E.M. Forster's heartbreaking and beautiful semi-autobiographical novel of the same name is a wonderful Merchant Ivory productions.
James Wilby stars as Maurice, a young man at Cambridge who begins to develop feelings for his friend and fellow student Clive (Hugh Grant). The feeling turns out to be mutual and the friends soon fall in love with one another, but must keep their relationship secret because of the strict Edwardian society which they inhabit.
Clive maintains that the pair should keep their relationship purely "platonic" which Maurice accepts, despite feeling a need to seal their love physically. When Clive goes on a trip to Greece, he seems to snub Maurice and it soon becomes clear that he has different feelings about their affair.
Maurice is understandably heartbroken, but his ordeal is not over there. He soon discovers that Clive is engaged to be married to a woman named Anne. He is devestated. The question is, will he recover from the break-up and find love elsewhere or is he doomed to forever be without love in a society that does not accept people of his kind?
The film, which was directed by James Ivory, is a heartbreaking account of one man's struggle to accept his sexuality in a world that tells him that everything about his true inclination is wrong. It also highlights the plight of homosexuals everywhere who were forced to hide their identities because of laws against homosexuality in Britain and around the world.
The film is a joy to look at - the cinematography, the art direction and the costume design being a particular highlight - and is very beautiful, capturing the Edwardian period perfectly. James Wilby is excellent as Maurice and Hugh Grant performs well acting against type. Rupert Graves is wonderful in his supporting role as Alec Scudder, who may or may not prove to be Maurice's eventual saviour.
The actors inhabit their characters effortlessly and it is easy to feel sympathy for all of them in different ways - Maurice, Clive, Alec and even Anne, for that matter - which creates an emotional journey filled with both highs and lows.
An often overlooked and forgotten film, Maurice is brilliant and despite the long running time, should appeal to almost anyone with an open mind, a love of E.M. Forster or even of Merchant Ivory productions in general. This is a must see!
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27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My personal Merchant Ivory favourite, 16 Sep 2006
One of the other reviewers of this film mentioned that this was important to them when they were struugling with issues relating to their own sexuality. I too have a belief that most lesbian and gay people have either a film or a book that is important to them in their formative 'coming out' stages - Maurice was mine. I sneaked into a late night showing in central London with the woman who was, and still is my best friend: and at that time there was no way it was going to be screened in working class South London where we were from.
Essentially the film covers the gradual 'awakening' of Maurice (played by James Wilby) to his true - gay - self starting in his late teenage years and ending sometime one supposes in his mid-twenties. Maurice is from an upper-middle class family and is exposed to all the privileges that go with being from that background. At university he meets Clive (Hugh Grant), an intense, intelligent and handsome young man from the landed gentry. After a few clumsy blunders and misunderstandings the two embark upon a secret relationship (well it has to be). Clive though is unwilling to partake in a sexual aspect to the relationship - thinking that it would 'bring them down'.
After several years of a close, but sexually unfulfilling relationship a mutual aquaintance of Maurice and Clive is caught soliciting a soldier outside a pub. At the subsequent trial he is essentially stripped of the reputation, career and status he enjoyed as a member of the upper class. This is a turning point in the relationship between Maurice and Clive, and Clive calls an end to the relationship in a particularly emotional sequence. Maurice gets on with life, existing from a day to day level, but emotionally his life is barren.
Sometime later - one assumes a year or two has passed with no contact, Maurice receives a phone call from Clive who has an announcement to make. Clive and Maurice are reunited - platonically - but not reconciled. While staying at Clive's country estate he meets Alec Scudder, the under-gamekeeper, a bit of rural, working-class, rough trade who fulfills Maurice in the way Clive never did. The remainder of the film deals with Maurice and Clive dealing with new states of affairs and has as much to do with issues of classism as it does with homosexuality.
The ending scene of the film for me is the most powerful - combined with the evocative music and the symbolic closing of the shutter windows it is very movingly done and always brings a lump to my throat whenever I watch it. Clive and Maurice bring a finality to their relationship at all levels, neither seems happy or satisfied, it seems that happiness for both hangs by a thread. Clive has sacrificed complete fulfillment in order to safeguard his position and wealth, Maurice has sacrificed position and wealth in order for a fulfilling relationship.
Rent it, buy it, watch it once every 5 years or so when it appears on Channel 4. You may find it refreshing to see gay men who are not drag queens or dying of and HIV related illness or drugged-up, club bunnies.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still glorious in the Happier Year, 19 Jul 2004
Sadly, there are many occasions on which well-meaning film-makers have quite frankly butchered good books, where their metamorphosis onto the big screen has not gone smoothly. I must say, however, that James Ivorys' adaptation of E.M Forsters' classic novel, Maurice, is a welcome exception.
Ivory captures the essence of this book superbly, in terms of character, dialogue and fundamentals such as plot, which is largely in keeping with the original story-line. Where it differs, it does so effectively and plausibly, and this does not detract from the sense of its over-all loyalty to the novel.
Splendid acting is in evidence throughout from James Wilby and Hugh Grant, as well as Rupert
Graves and a good supporting cast. Wilby portrays the conflicted eponymous hero impressively, moving smoothly through a range of emotions, from moments of exuberance, uncertainty and tourtured insecurity.
Although the crucial theme of Maurice is homosexuality in an age which criminalized it, other issues such as social class, individuality/conformity and love mean that it is compelling on other levels too, making it an all-round joy of pre-World War One drama, in which innocence and idealism are still largely possible.
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