Maurice on DVD (1987)

Excellent movie

Adrian from London, England , 02/01/2005

The movie follows the lives of two young men, Maurice and Clive, both of whom are gay and living in early 1900's England. The movie starts when they are in college and then follows their lives over the next few years.

Initially both Clive and Maurice appear to accept their sexuality and relationship, but as time goes on they both begin to struggle with living in an intolerant 1900's society. They find themselves being forced into having to deal with their sexuality and the social consequences of being gay. Clive gets married to a woman he obviously doesn't really love, while Maurice continues to struggle with his feelings of guilt but still 'refuses' to give in and adopt a truly heterosexual lifestyle. Throughout the film they remain in contact, and at one point Maurice even ends up living in the house with Clive and his wife. The family all seem to like Maurice, and Clive's wife can tell Maurice is in love, but thinks it's with a mysterious girl in London, not her husband. An unexpected twist (well, I did't see it coming, maybe others will) comes later in the film which, to me, is what made the message behind this film so good.

If nothing else, the film gave me an appreciation of just how hard it must have been to be gay in Britain less than 100 years ago. (This really hit home to me when I saw Maurice being sent to jail after being tricked into making a pass at an uncover policeman).

While the first half hour or so is a bit slow, once it got going I was glued to the screen. The movie is shot in an interesting way... despite running for over 2 hours it rarely dwells on any scene or idea for more than a few minutes, making the story seem a bit 'jumpy'. But once you get into it, this actually means the story moves quite quickly and covers a lot of ground in a short period of time.

While the film is about a gay couple, I think it would be suitable to just about anyone. It's ultimately a love story filled with both pain and happiness, the only difference from most films is that it's about love shared between men.

I rented this on recommendation from a friend and liked it so much I purchased the DVD to add to my collection. It's a brilliant film.

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A film to last for all time

jeremy lee from cambrdigeshire , 12/02/2005

Reading the story of E M Forster I found out that a lot of characters in the book are based upon close friends he knew. he also wrote this while he was alive and it was written before D H Lawrence - ladys Chatterly's lover. Actually Mr Lawrence read his demo version of the story before he released his book about a gamekeeper.

The film is a bit slow at the beginning but is very important as it sets the scene up for the latter scenes in the film.

The bonus feature is fab as it shows that the interest in his cousin and his relationship with Gladis is shown and how it was filmed but cut out. the bonus feaures show interviews with all the actors and the producers. We also have more extended and deleted scenes.

The process of coming out is shown here to be very much similar now as it was back then. It is great to see a movie that ends happily even though E M Forster was unsure of it himself when he wrote it.

The film sets the scene for realised love and closeness and sacrifice of things for love. Well acted and believable. Please remember the time it was written and how things were in those days when watching it.

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Highly Watchable

ThursdayNext from Warwickshire , 25/03/2005

A little-known costume drama from Merchant-Ivory adapted from an equally little-known novel by EM Forster.

James Wilby plays the titular Maurice, who falls in love with Clive Durham (played by Hugh Grant) at Cambridge. Their relationship is kept secret and platonic at Durham's insistence, but when a mutual friend is arrested for soliciting a soldier, Durham panics and marries, leaving Maurice bereft. He attempts to 'cure' himself by visiting a hypnotist but finds his real salvation may lie in Durham's hunky gamekeeper (Rupert Graves).

Pretty boys, period detail, boating at Cambridge, some sensitive performances and a real sense of the torture of living with a love that dare not speak its name in early 20th Century England combine to make this a highly watchable film.

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Dull costume drama

A customer from Canterury, England , 09/02/2005

Merchant Ivory films are always exquisitely filmed and acted, but somehow Maurice failed to engage our interest.

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Wonderful

A customer from Luton, England , 22/01/2005

a truly great gay movie with depth and character. highly recommended

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Posh totty

A customer from London UK , 21/10/2005

Don't know how I missed this film in the 80s, but really enjoyed it now. Great story by one the century's greatest writers, published after his death to avoid scandal I guess. Great cast and Rupert Graves is lush as the under-keeper (!) Scudder. If you like period drama with a bit of the love that dared not speak it's name thorwn in, then you love this film.

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