Amazon.com: The second of the three Merchant/Ivory films adapting E.M. Forster novels (between A Room with a View and Howard's End), Maurice deals with a theme few period pieces dare mention--a young man's struggle with his homosexuality. It's not just a gay coming-of-age story, however. The hero wrestles with British class society as much as his personal and sexual identity.
The film opens on a stormy, windswept beach, as an older man awkwardly instructs young, fatherless Maurice Hall (James Wilby) in the "sacred mysteries" of sex. The same turbulent, wordless struggle with passion lasts throughout this slowly evolving, beautifully filmed story. Novelist E.M. Forster's brainy, British melodrama hinges on choice and compulsion, as the pensive hero falls for two completely different men. First comes frail, suppressed Clive (Hugh Grant), who wants nothing more than classical Platonic harmony... and a straight lifestyle. (Grant's performance is so convincing, one wonders how he ever became a heterosexual sex symbol.) After Clive's wedding, Maurice turns to hypnosis to cure his unspeakable longings. Unfortunately, his "cure" is interrupted by Clive's lustful, brooding, barely literate gamekeeper Scudder (Rupert Graves), a worker more at home gutting rabbits than discussing the classics. Maurice's love for a "social inferior" forces him to confront his illicit desire and his ingrained class snobbery. --Grant Balfour
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - great movie
The movie follows the book. It is a great movie. I have looked at it
many times, so I could get the full meaning. It is a must see if you are
a writer.
Rating: - Great Valentine's Day Flick
Love Triumps in this story of two men in turn-of-the-century England. Despite their great differences - one is of noble birth, the other is from the lowly worker class - they find comfort and confidence ... Read More
Rating: - Century Later the Feeling Is Still Strong
Over twenty years after it was made "Maurice" has changed into a classic but did not age at all. This coming-of-age and coming-to-terms story faithfully taken from E. M. Forster's novel was transferred into ... Read More
Rating: - MAURICE. You will wish you had seen it sooner!
Maurice is a very, very good movie. Everything about the film is great; e.g., acting, attire at the turn of the century, weather, facial and physical gestures... It is a bit of a tear jerker; however, it has ... Read More
Rating: - A Wonderful Film
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 ... Read More
