Maurice (1987)

While I liked the first half of Maurice, I absolutely sat up with the second portion. If you can make it through the pompous, arrogant and snotty people of the first hour, you're in for a great all-around coming out story.Here's another movie I watched consistently when I was in my young, gay, formable years. Maybe once every 2-3 months. It's slow, yes. It's a period piece film, sure. And it's hard to get through at times…but if you can stick through to the end – hell, the second half, it's well worth it.Maybe because, when I was younger, I fell in love with Rupert Graves, due to this movie. Now, I liked his character in this movie, Alec Scudder, but physically…Again, this was in my impressionable years when I first started watching this. I even wanted to name my child – if I ever had one: Alec. Love(d) that name.I digress, as I normally do. The movie is set in England, the early 1910s. It's based on an E.M. Forster (of A Room with a View fame) book that was set to be released only after Forster was deceased. (I read this book, by the way and loved it.) Poor Morris (James Wilby and that's how it was pronounced back then;) in his own formable years in "college," he meets Hugh Grant's Clive Durham and they build a solid love affair in a time when someone caught doing homosexual acts could be imprisoned. Mercifully, England, unlike their child, the great U.S. of A., has turned it around since then. In fact, recently, they allow same-sex marriages. Kudos to them for being so advanced!Meanwhile, when another colleague of theirs is, in fact, imprisoned, Clive retreats and wrongfully marries a woman and ditches Maurice. He's distraught, definitely confused and seeks out "change" when he meets the man (of my own dreams following) who will prove to him: NOTHING IS WRONG.This movie helped me through a lot back then. Sure, at the time I first discovered it, it was set in a time eight decades prior, and in another country, but it was absolutely relevant to me and my own story. For, I didn't come out until gays finally started to earn the slightest of respect, in the early 1990s. Me, like Maurice, both didn't understand what was happening to us. No one told me what to expect, if there were others out there like me or if I was right or wrong.Remember: this was all pre-internet.This movie was well-made, had a great score and watching it from beginning to end, it's very touching and reminds me, with every viewing, of my youth. I'm glad I saw it back then, and look forward to seeing it again.

This was a wonderfully put together movie. The actors were good, the writing and pacing was also well done. I also liked that the love story was presented as any other love story. I've seen movies, like for example Brokeback Mountain, where the homosexuality becomes a crutch and the movie expects you to like it solely based on that merit alone. Maurice, however, took the subject of homosexuality and used it to its advantage as a tool instead of a crutch. It used the sexuality of the characters to create more dramatic tension. It was a nice treatment. One quibble I had with the movie though was that the kissing scenes were rather more like face rolling scenes, very kind of funny when they probably should not have been. I have seen these types of kissing scenes between two men done much better in other films, but at the same time this film is dated 1987, so that might be part of it since kissing styles evolve each decade in movies. I'm glad that I took the time to watch this movie. It was a good story and gave me things to think about, which is something I enjoy about good movies.

We all make mistakes, of course. But I felt it was my «duty» to point out at least two slight mistakes in Mr. Christopher Sullivan's (from New York City, USA) comment. I only do this so that readers won't be mislead. I mean the best to all, including Mr. Sullivan's overall accurate and well-written review ! He states (and I quote -- while making my own remarks in BOLD LETTERS): ***************************** «Maurice" (prononced "Morris") -- PRONOUNCED -- is the film adaption of the book by E.M. Forster and stated to be semi-autobiographical of his life (OF A CERTAIN PART OF HIS LIFE, NOT HIS WHOLE LIFE, AS IT IS IMPLIED). The book was banned for many years (AND FORSTER HIMSELF WANTED HIS BOOK TO BE PUBLISHED AFTER HIS DEATH, WHICH OCCURRED IN 1970) and it wasn't until 1987 (YES, IT WASN'T UNTIL THEN BUT ONLY BECAUSE THE FILM PROJECT COULD NO BE PUT TOGETHER BEFORE -- OR AFTER CENSORSHIP STARTED TO BECOME MORE «BROAD-MINDED» IN THE LATE 1960's) that this visually splendid film was released from Merchant-Ivory - ("A Room With A View", "Howard's End"). Set in early 19th century England (NO ! EARLY 20TH CENTURY !, etc.»

This film is about a upper class English gentleman called Maurice, and his quest to find the love of his life beyond the societal constraints of Britain in early 1900's.Though the pacing of "Maurice" is very slow, it successfully engages the viewers and hence never feels boring. The main characters, Maurice Hall and Clive Durham are very well developed. Their words, emotions and actions are beautifully portrayed in much detail that I feel close to them. Maurice Hall's immense dedication to find love in Clive is intense, but their love does not come to fruition due to oppressive societal pressure. Though Maurice finally finds solace in Alec, the ending is bittersweet.