Film Review
The international success of
A Room
with a View (1985) convinced its director James Ivory and
producer Ismail Merchant that they should follow it up with another
adaptation of an E.M. Forster novel, to capitalise on the popular craze
at the time for period dramas. The novel that James Ivory
selected was
Maurice, one of
Forster's lesser known, less well-regarded works, an intimate portrait
of a young man coming to terms with his homosexuality within the
stifling social conformity of late Edwardian England. At the time
Forster wrote the novel in 1913-4, homosexuality was a criminal offence
in England, punishable by a long prison sentence, with the possibility
of flogging and hard labour. Doubtful of the book's merit,
Forster refused to allow it to be published during his lifetime; it
only made it into print in 1971, a year after his death.
Whilst
Maurice is not one of
Forster's best novels, it has become a seminal work in gay literature,
one that provides the most revealing insights into homosexuality ('the
unspeakable vice of the Greeks') in the early part of the 20th
century. The book and James Ivory's highly sympathetic adaptation
are not exclusively about homosexuality; rather, they address more
general issues: (i) society's inability to accept human nature and its
obsession with an arbitrarily decided notion of conformity; and (ii)
the need for individuals to resist societal pressures in order to
achieve personal fulfilment in their lives. Consequently,
Maurice is not only of interest to
gay men; it is a work that speaks to every one of us, celebrating the
worth of the individual and reminding us that we should never allow
ourselves to be tyrannised by the cold dictates of
convention. Forster's main motivation for writing
Maurice was to deliver a scathing
critique of the shallow conventions of his day, not just attitudes
towards homosexuals, but the class stratification that would have made
Maurice's attraction for a working class girl as socially unacceptable
as his attraction for a man in his own social sphere (perhaps even more
so). Not only is
Maurice one
of the most sincere and well-crafted films to come out of the
Merchant-Ivory partnership, it is also one of cinema's most eloquent
expressions of the necessity to seek truth in our lives, to live
according to our innate nobler instincts, not according to the narrow
prejudices of others.
As we have come to expect of James Ivory's period dramas,
Maurice is extremely well cast, and
the decision to cast three virtually unknown actors (at the time) for
the three lead roles paid off handsomely. Ivory was eager to work
with Rupert Graves and James Wilby again after he had given them minor
roles in
A Room With A View;
Hugh Grant had only appeared in one film prior to this - Michael
Hoffman's
Privileged (1982)
(along with Wilby) - and was on the point of giving up acting.
All three actors were to receive a massive career boost through
Maurice, although it wasn't until
Grant appeared in
Four Weddings and a Funeral
(1994) that he found international stardom. Wilby and Graves were
rematched almost immediately after
Maurice
as rival lovers in Charles Sturridge's
A Handful of Dust (1988).
As the deeply conflicted Maurice, James Wilby deserves credit
for making his dull and largely unsympathetic character believable and
(ultimately) likeable. As the chinless wonder
who first takes Maurice's fancy, Hugh Grant is
no less impressive and gives a far
more nuanced performance than he is generally known for.
Whilst Wilby and Grant took most of the acting plaudits
when the film was first released, it is Rupert Graves who turns
in the most solid performance - his character (Scudder)
is the most complex, and the one that is most vividly and
sympathetically rendered. The distinguished supporting cast
reads like an abridged
Who's Who
of 1980s British Drama, offering up such luminaries as Denholm Elliott,
Billie Whitelaw, Ben Kingsley, Simon Callow and Phoebe Nicholls, all
impeccable in their respective roles.
We shouldn't dwell on the acting - there is as much talent behind the
camera as there is in front of it. The arresting visual beauty of
the film (which is so hauntingly evocative of the era in which the
drama is set) owes much to Pierre Lhomme, the highly regarded French
cinematographer who previously lent his services to some of the
greatest auteur filmmakers in French cinema (Chris Marker, Jean-Pierre
Melville, Jacques Doillon, Marguerite Duras and Bertrand Blier).
Richard Robbins' lush score is equally expressive of the conflicting
forces that guide the three protagonists to their respective fates, the
darker moments of trouble and anxiety marvellously counterpointed by
the more spiritually uplifting interludes, building to the magnificent
climax which manages to be both jubilant and tragic as it contrasts the
emptiness of Clive's future life with the lasting happiness that
Maurice has secured for himself (at a huge personal cost). From
E.M. Forster's undistinguished short novel, James Ivory draws a film of
rare integrity, beauty and emotional power, one that is both inspiring
and intensely involving. Ivory and Merchant would maintain the
same high standard for their third and last E.M. Forster adaptation,
the equally wonderful
Howards End (1992), which
offers a similarly moving tale of class conflict and forbidden love.
© James Travers 2012
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Next James Ivory film:
Howards End (1992)
Film Synopsis
Shortly after going up to Cambridge in 1909, Maurice Hall makes the
acquaintance of Clive Durham, the handsome young heir to a large
country estate. When Clive tells his new friend that he is in
love with him, Maurice gives him a cold rebuke, but then grows to
realise that he feels the same way. The two undergraduates pursue
an intense love affair, although it remains, at Clive's insistence,
purely platonic. They stay in touch when Maurice is sent down
by the Dean for skipping lectures. As he starts to make a living
as a stockbroker, Maurice becomes a frequent visitor to Clive's country
house, Pendersleigh. However, Clive calls an abrupt end to his
relationship with Maurice when he learns that a contemporary of his at
Cambridge has been imprisoned for homosexual soliciting. After a
holiday in Greece, Clive makes up his mind that he must get married and
selects a wealthy heiress named Anne to be his society bride.
Although he initially feels betrayed by his lover, Maurice continues
his friendship with Clive, whilst seeking treatment by a hypnotist to
cure him of his attraction to men. During one of his stays at
Pendersleigh, Maurice is noticed by Clive's young gamekeeper, Alec
Scudder. Maurice is taken by surprise when, late one night,
Scudder climbs through the window into his bedroom and gets into bed
with him. However, he puts up no resistance as Scudder begjns to
fondle and kiss him. In the days that follow, Maurice becomes
suspicious of Scudder's motives for seducing him. His fears are
confirmed when the gamekeeper sends him a letter insisting that they
should meet up again...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.