Maurice (1987)

After his lover rejects him, a young man trapped by the oppressiveness of Edwardian society tries to come to terms with and accept his sexuality.

Director:

James Ivory

Writers:

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

Stars:

James Wilby, Rupert Graves, Hugh Grant

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Two male English school chums find themselves falling in love at Cambridge. To regain his place in society, Clive gives up his forbidden love, Maurice (pronounced "Morris") and marries. While staying with Clive and his shallow wife, Anne, Maurice finally discovers romance in the arms of Alec, the gamekeeper. Written from personal pain, it's E.M. Forster's story of coming to terms with sexuality in the Edwardian age.

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Plot Keywords:

homosexuality | male full frontal nudity | one word title | forbidden love | male rear nudity | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

James Wilby recalls on the DVD extras that there were no rehearsals at all for the movie, only two reads-through, and then the start of filming.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

Clive Durham: Maurice, I hope nothing is wrong?
Maurice Hall: Pretty well everything. You would think so.
Clive Durham: Very well, I'm at your service. My advice there is to sleep here tonight and ask Anne. Where a woman is in question, it's always better to ask another woman.
Maurice Hall: I'm not here to see Anne.
[pauses]
Maurice Hall: I'm in love with Alec Scudder.
Clive Durham: What a grotesque announcement.
Maurice Hall: [ironically] Most grotesque. But I felt I should tell you.
Clive Durham: Maurice, Maurice, we did everything we could when you and I clashed out the subject.
Maurice Hall: When you brought yourself to ...
[...]

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Alternate Versions

Some NTSC versions are scanned at 25fps and the running time is short and seems edited but the movie is intact.

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Connections

Referenced in First Love and Other Pains (1999)

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Soundtracks

In the Fens
(uncredited)
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Arranged by Richard Robbins

User Reviews

An absolutely classic about 'the love that dare not speak its name'.

A gay classic that is situated at the beginning of the twentieth century. 'Maurice' is the story of Maurice Hall, a student at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. There he meets Clive Durham. Both men develop a strong friendship, which to a certain level, becomes physical. Clive is gay, but Maurice doesn't want to know anything about it. Until he admits he also has feelings for persons of the same sex, even though in intellectual circles homosexuality is 'the love that dare not speak its name'.

Maurice doesn't know how to behave. Of course he wants to be himself, but society doesn't accept gay people. When he more or less decides to live as a gay man bosom friend Clive changes his mind, frightened by a lawsuit against a gay man. According to Clive the physical friendship between Maurice and Clive must end and from that moment on he wants to experience real love: the love of a woman. The relation between Maurice and Clive gets tense.

Even Maurice tries to get his sexual preference changed by visiting a hypnotist, but the treatment fails. That becomes very clear when Maurice sleeps with Scudder, Clive's under gamekeeper. A passionate love develops between Scudder and Maurice, which makes Clive realize what kind of appearance he has to keep up as a 'converted' gay man.

'Maurice' is based on the novel of the same name written by E.M. Forster. The film is beautiful and made with a feeling for historical notion. The actors playing the leading roles are straight in real life but act the gay roles in a beautiful way. Actually everything in the film is right: image, usage of language, costumes and music.

Details

Official Sites:

Merchant Ivory Productions [United States]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 September 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Maurice

Filming Locations:

Sicily, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

GBP1,577,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$49,278, 20 September 1987

Gross USA:

$2,484,230

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,642,567

Company Credits

Production Co:

Merchant Ivory Productions, Cinecom Pictures, Film Four International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1