295. Maurice; movie review

MAURICE
Cert 15
134 mins
BBFC advice: Contains brief nudity, moderate sex, sex references

Throughout the 1990s while Mrs W was drooling at the site of his floppy hair, I dismissed Hugh Grant as a one-trick pony - someone who could only portray himself.
When he became one of the spokespeople for Hacked Off my antagonism with him went a stage further - he struck me as the epitome of the entitled - little talent and lots of money.
However, I have recently been compelled to revise my opinion of his acting skills. His performances in Florence Foster Jenkins and Paddington 2 were a joy.
And I might had never have had a dim view of his acting prowess if It had seen Maurice when it was released in 1987.
Grant plays upper-class Cambridge student Clive Durham who has a platonic but loving relationship with fellow under-graduate Maurice Hall (James Wilby).
But James Ivory's movie is set before the First World war where being discovered as gay is punished by jail and spells an end to careers and social status.
Durham's ambition and valuation of standing means that he is afraid to expose even a glint of his sexuality - however, Hall is a risk-taker who puts love on a pedestal.
Into the mix comes Durham's assistant gamekeeper (Rupert Graves) who has much less to lose by being public.
Maurice would have been quite a daring film when it was released at the height of the Aids epidemic at the end of the 1980s.
Nowadays, it seems curiously out of its time with openly gay MPs as well as business leaders and socialites.
But it does reflect on a moment of social history when the persecution of gay people was particularly extreme.
Not only does it have the detailed good looks of a Merchant Ivory film - it also contains some smashing performances - including that of High Grant!

Reasons to watch: Classic merchant Ivory with a big twist
Reasons to avoid: It is at least 30 minutes too long

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit:  None
Nudity: yes
Overall rating: 8/10

Director quote - James Ivory: "When I grew up there weren’t any sort of terrible things that happened. I had very understanding friends and my parents didn’t live that long. I had a blessedly lucky youth and growing up. Although I was a Catholic I never was overwhelmed by guilt and all that kind of thing.”

The big question - Why was homosexuality ever considered to be a crime?

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