PERIOD PIECES : A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY - "MAURICE"

I feel very strongly about this film. To the point that I would be seriously upset if people I care about professed a dislike to the film. True enough one of the leads in it is Rupert Graves, one of my favorite actors ever of all times, but even that is only part of the story. See, I try to view a film more as the characters not actors – if you see what I mean. In this film for instance it’s more about Alec Scudder (the character) than Rupert Graves, the actor who plays him. The story (more power to E. M. Forster) is one of the most profound love stories I have ever witnessed, it touched me to the core, it is without a doubt one of those few films I will go back to over and over again as the years go by, just for the pleasure of re-viewing it (and I hardly EVER re-watch films I have already watched just for fun. Unless I am being polite or something like that, that is…). It is not as well known as Brokeback Mountain, but it did get nominated for Oscars® and the two leads Hugh Grant and James Wilby shared the Best Actor award in the Venice film festival back in the day, so I have quite a few strong voices backing me up…
Maurice Hall (James Wilby) is a young man growing up at the turn of the century. He is an orphan and lives with his mother and two sisters, life is not easy but the family does its best to provide him with a good education. They manage quite well – he gets to Cambridge. And there he falls in love. With Clive Durham (Hugh Grant). This comes as a bit of shock to Maurice but that is only half the trouble. The year is 1910 and in England homosexuality is punishable with prison, flogging, hard labor and absolute public disgrace. Clive and Maurice have to keep their feelings for each other an absolute secret. Their relationship endures the years but soon after graduation a friend an acquaintance is publicly disgraced and imprisoned for “the unspeakable vice of the Greeks” throwing Clive, now well on his way to inheriting a large estate and becoming a successful public figure into inner turmoil. Is his love for Maurice so strong he can risk losing everything and almost everyone he has ever known? Clive’s inner turmoil upsets and destabilizes Maurice whose love for Clive is unwavering. And then, Alec Scudder (Rupert Graves) enters the scene… But if you want to see where he fits in, you’re just going to have to sit down and watch the film.
I am not gay. But as I have gone through life and observed other people around me I have never been able to tell the difference between the love between a man and a woman and the love between two men or two women. If you have such a prejudice, pray leave it at the door of the cinema for this one. If there ever was a story about true love and following your heart in the face of the world, this is THE ONE. Heck, it might even be the film to help you shift that prejudice slightly. James Wilby absolutely shines as Maurice, come the middle of the film you cannot help but becoming well and truly embroiled in the whole thing and seriously worried about his general well being. Hugh Grant, so very young here– it’s rather an old film you know! – is also brilliant. Although you can actually see that he is beginning, even at that early age, to act all “Hugh Grant-ish”. I have endless respect for the man, but like Nicole Kidman and Clint Eastwood I get the feeling he doesn’t do that much acting per se, it’s always “Hugh Grant acting” that you see and not a character (I know this is a HORRIBLE thing to say to/about an actor but that’s my humble opinion. So there you are). He’s pretty damn good here though, hats off to him… I wish I could say more about Rupert Graves as Alec Scudder (apart from the fact that he has considerably fewer lines than Wilby and Grant and therefore cannot share in any award) but his part is a crucial one. And Graves’ performance is brilliant. The thing is you see, the whole tension of the story rather hinges on not being sure what Scudder is up to until the end. To the point that I got quite cross when I picked up the DVD and realized that it summarized the whole story – talk about spoilers! So, don’t read the back of the DVD. Just buy it and watch it.