Maurice – 1987 | 140 mins | Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Merchant Ivory Productions award–winning screen adaptation of E.M. Forster’s controversial literary classic Maurice; the story of a young man’s homosexual awakening when homosexuality was still a criminal offence in England.

Set in pre-World War I England, this is the touching story of two young men who meet at Cambridge and fall in love. In his first major starring role, Hugh Grant gives a compelling performance as Clive Durham, a young Edwardian gentleman attracted to a fellow student Maurice Hall (James Wilby). Maurice initially rebuffs him but later confesses his affection too; the love between them is platonic but intense. In an Edwardian society that both persecutes and prosecutes homosexuals, guilt and fear leads to Clive’s breakdown when mutual friend Lord Risley, is imprisoned for committing a homosexual offence.

A bitter rift develops between the two friends, and Clive eventually breaks off his affair with Maurice. Both men try to suppress their homoerotic instincts – Clive through marriage, family, and politics; Maurice asks American hypnotist Lasker-Jones (Ben Kingsley) to cure him. Maurice is disconsolate, but alone he finds the honesty and strength to face up to his true nature when a man from a completely different social world enters his life, the darkly handsome young gamekeeper Alec Scudder (Rupert Graves), Maurice and Alec decide to risk their reputations by openly living together.