Maurice

The dichotomy of love -- that of the idealized (intellectual/platonic) and the physical (passion) -- is nicely captured in Merchant and Ivory's stunning adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel, Maurice.

Set in genteel yet repressive Edwardian England, Maurice traces a young man's discovery of not only of his sexual identity, but also of the confusion and heartbreak caused by the divergence of the two concepts of love, both of which are embodied in two men with whom Maurice falls in love.

Maurice Hall (James Wilby) is a wealthy young man who enters Cambridge and is acquainted with Clive Durham (Hugh Grant), an aristocrat on whose shoulders tradition has placed a heavy burden as dictated by his class. The two grow close and eventually become lovers though in the platonic sense. Things seem perfect at first until Maurice, having been initiated by the more worldly Clive, seeks a more physical expression of his love for the other man, who continually shrinks from his attempts and even discourages them.

A terrible scandal soon happens, which involves a good college friend of theirs, and the two part ways. From there, Maurice is left floundering on his own. He takes desperate measures in "curing" himself of his "undesirable" propensities, turning to Dr. Barry (Denholm Elliott), who dismisses him, and then to Dr. Jones (Ben Kingsley speaking with a very odd American accent), a hypnotist.

And just when Maurice begins to hold on to hope, he meets and falls in love with Clive's gamekeeper, Alec Scudder (Rupert Graves). Unlike Clive, Alec is unpolished and unabashed in his expressions of love, constantly seeking Maurice's companionship, which terrifies Maurice at first but eventually leads him to make a decision that's both bittersweet and satisfying though largely improbable on another level. Given the social atmosphere of pre-World War I England, after all, class, no matter how much we wish it weren't so, was a ruthless force in defining people's behavior. Maurice, in fact, has shown himself to be a snob in several instances. The chances of a successful relationship with a social inferior are therefore questionable.

Then again, given the fact that this is an adaptation of a novel, it's really Forster's ideas that come to the fore, not the filmmakers'.

This aside, the film is lovingly made; it's fairly obvious in the way the English backdrop is carefully explored in just about every scene. We're treated to the rich traditions that define university life in Cambridge. The countryside as well as London are also used to paint a detailed picture of the mores of those times, both within social classes as well as between.

The acting is strong (though Kingsley seems a bit uncomfortable in his role) and effective in expressing the way turbulent yet natural emotions are confined by a genteel, intellectual veneer that very much defines the English upper-class. Unlike the novel, Clive is actually made into a more sympathetic character, with more believable reasons (compared to the novel) for choosing the path he takes, and Hugh Grant, surprisingly enough, effectively captures the confusion, the despair, and the resignation that will shape Clive's life for the rest of his days.

All in all, this is a satisfying film: visually and emotionally. The final scene, in which Clive remembers Maurice "beckoning to him, clothed in the sun, and shaking out the scents and sounds of the May term," is a very touching moment that underscores Dr. Jones's words: "England has never been inclined to accept human nature."