Maurice (1987)

Director:

James Ivory

Writers:

E.M. Forster (from the novel by)
Kit Hesketh-Harvey (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 September 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Two male English school chums find themselves falling in love at Cambridge. To regain his place in society...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Gamekeeper | Hypnosis | Male Nudity | Hugging

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

James Wilby	...	Maurice Hall
Hugh Grant	...	Clive Durham
Rupert Graves	...	Alec Scudder
Denholm Elliott	...	Doctor Barry
Simon Callow	...	Mr. Ducie
Billie Whitelaw	...	Mrs. Hall
Barry Foster	...	Dean Cornwallis
Judy Parfitt	...	Mrs. Durham
Phoebe Nicholls	...	Anne Durham
Patrick Godfrey	...	Simcox
Mark Tandy	...	Risley
Ben Kingsley	...	Lasker-Jones
Kitty Aldridge	...	Kitty Hall
Helena Michell	...	Ada Hall
Catherine Rabett	...	Pippa Durham

Runtime:

140 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:(Banned) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Hong Kong:III | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12 | Ireland:15

Filming Locations:

Assyrian Saloon, British Museum, Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London, England, UK

Company:

Merchant Ivory Productions

Trivia:

Just before filming the nude bed scene in the hotel, the bed that Rupert Graves and James Wilby were in collapsed.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Maurice Hall and Clive Durham are shown attending a concert at the Wigmore Hall in London in 1911. This renowned concert venue was originally called Bechstein Hall, having been built by the famous German piano firm, and was not renamed Wigmore Hall until after the First World War, when anti-German feeling had caused the owners to sell up and Westminster Council renamed the venue.

Quotes:

Alec Scudder: Tomorrow's Thursday, Friday is packing, Saturday Southampton, so it's good-bye, Old England!
Maurice Hall: You mean that you and I shan't meet again after now?
Alec Scudder: That's right, you've got it quite correct.
Maurice Hall: Stay with me.
Alec Scudder: Stay? And miss my boat? You daft? What a bloody rubbish! Ordering about again you would.
Maurice Hall: It's a chance in a thousand we met. You know it. Why don't you stay?
Alec Scudder: Stay with you? How? And where? With your Ma? Oh yeah. What would she say if she saw me? All rough and ugly the way I am. And how would you run your job, I'd like to know?
Maurice Hall: I have to chuck it.
Alec Scudder: Your job in the city? What gives you money and position? You talk like a man who's never had to earn his living.
Maurice Hall: You can do anything. Once you know what it is. We can live without money, without people. We can live without position. We're not fools. We're both strong. There'll be some place we can go.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Clapham Junction (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Miserere Psalm 51

a closer look of gay life

Before I watch Maurice, I almost had no idea of the life of gays. I used to hold the notion that homosexuality was unacceptable and disgusting, which was under the influence of some so-called orthodox thinking. As the time goes by, I gradually realized that you can't make a judgment before truly knowing something about it. Truth is not told by "everybody" but explored and medicated by yourself. And the movie "Maurice" has provided me with a good chance to have a better look at the true life of gays, to perceive their pure and pristine affections towards the same sex, to feel their struggle and desperation under public prejudice and pressure. Though my life is a far cry from that of Maurice and Clive portrayed in the movie, it seems that I can understand them perfectly and are quite empathetic with them. I think that is because what is expressed in the movie is undoubtedly part of human nature, which can strike a chord in the depth of every human being's heart. For that reason, one line in the movie stroke me deeply. When Maurice's psychological doctor advised him to emigrate to countries such as France and Italy where homosexuality was no longer criminal, he said:" England has always been disinclined to accept human nature."

A great movie!