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`Maurice" tells the story of a young English homosexual
who falls in love with two completely different men, and in their differences
is the whole message of the movie, a message I do not agree with. Yet because
the film is so well made and acted, because it captures its period so meticulously,
I enjoyed it even in disagreement.
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This is the first film from the team of James Ivory
and Ismail Merchant since "A
Room With a View," and is based once again on a novel by E.M. Forster.
Both books are about the gulf between idealistic romance and immediate
physical passion, but otherwise they could not be more dissimilar. Maurice,
which was written in 1914, was Forster's attempt to deal in fiction with
his own homosexuality, and the novel was suppressed until after his death.
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The story takes place in the years before World War
I, when homosexuality was outlawed in Britain and being exposed meant disgrace
and ruin. At Cambridge, two undergraduates become close friends, and then
one day in a moment of risk, one tells the other that he loves him.
The man declaring his love is Clive (Hugh Grant),
an aristocrat who can look forward to a lifetime of wealth, privilege and
perhaps public office. The man he loves is Maurice (James Wilby), also
well-born, who may go into the stock market. At first Maurice is shocked
and repelled by what his friend says, but later that night he climbs in
the window to give him a quick, passionate kiss and whisper "I love you."
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From the first, their ideas about love are opposite.
Clive is not much interested in the physical expression of love; he thinks
it will "lower" them. His notions are more platonic and idealistic. Maurice,
once he has been introduced to the idea of love between men, becomes a
passionate romantic, and before long, Clive, the pursuer, becomes the pursued.
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Clive fears exposure and disgrace. He sees homosexuality
as something to be battled and overcome, and he breaks off with Maurice
to marry, assume his family responsibilities and go into politics.
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At first Maurice is shattered, and there are tragicomic
scenes in which he seeks help from a hypnotist and the family doctor. Then
he has a physical encounter of astonishing passion with Scudder (Rupert
Graves), the roughhewn gamekeeper on Clive's estate, and eventually both
men determine to risk everything, throw their reputations to the wind and
live together as lovers.
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Merchant and Ivory tell this story in a film so handsome
to look at and so intelligently acted that it is worth seeing just to regard
the production. Scene after scene is perfectly created: a languorous afternoon
floating on the river behind the Cambridge colleges; a desultory cricket
game between masters and servants; the daily routine of college life; visits
to country estates and town homes; the settings of the rooms.
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The supporting cast (Ben Kingsley, Simon Callow,
Billie Whitelaw, Denholm Elliott ) is unusually strong. Although some people
might find Wilby unfocused in the title role, I thought he was making the
right choices, portraying a man whose real thoughts were almost always
elsewhere.
The problem in the movie is with the gulf between
his romantic choices. His first great love, Clive, is a person with whom
he has a great deal in common. They share minds as well as bodies. Scudder,
the gamekeeper, is frankly portrayed as an unpolished working-class lad,
handsome but simple. In the England of 1914, with its rigid class divisions,
the two men would have had even less in common than the movie makes it
seem, and the real reason their relationship is daring is not because of
sexuality but because of class.
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Apart from their sexuality, they have nothing of
substance to talk about with each other in this movie. No matter how deep
their love, I suspect that within a few weeks or months the British class
system would have driven them apart.
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In ignoring this reality, Forster and Ivory seem
to be making the idealistic statement that love conquers all. Sometimes
it does. Not usually. Physical sexuality is an important part of everyone,
but especially after the first passion has cooled it is not the most important
part. There comes a time when people need to simply talk to one another,
to coexist as companions, and I doubt if that time could ever come between
Maurice and Scudder.
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By arguing that their decision to stay together was
a good and courageous thing, "Maurice" seems to argue that the most important
thing about them was their homosexuality. Perhaps in the dangerous atmosphere
of homophobia in the England of 75 years ago, that might have seemed the
case. But this film has been made in 1987 and shares the same limited insight.
Maurice (STAR) (STAR) (STAR)
Maurice James Wilby
Clive Hugh Grant
Scudder Rupert Graves
Dr. Barry Denholm Elliott
Mr. Ducie Simon Callow
Mrs. Hall Billie Whitelaw
Lasker-Jones Ben Kingsley
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© Created: 25/11/99 Updated: 16/12/99
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