Maurice

The repressed and bourgeois Maurice Hall (James Wilby) tackles the prejudices of Edwardian society as he comes to terms with his sexuality, in this landmark drama from the team behind A Room with a View and Howards End.

From the halls of Cambridge University to the cricket fields of the English gentry, this profound tale of emotional and sexual awakening features star-making performances from Wilby, Hugh Grant and Rupert Graves, and perfectly captures the fears and joys of submitting to a forbidden desire.

Described by The Guardian as ‘undervalued and underseen’ and a pre-cursor to the James Ivory-scripted Call Me By Your Name, Maurice is a landmark film as important as any in the history of gay cinema and one that presents a positive and enriching portrait of first love.

Director’s Statement

Our film Maurice remains today what it was when first released in 1987: the only openly mainstream male romance with a happy ending (except for maybe the recent God’s Own Country). This is why it has endured and is so loved by a generation yet to achieve all the goals of inclusion that have occurred since in most advanced countries — such as same sex marriage.

Many of the film’s admirers have waited for this reappearance of the film, which vanished from theatres in Britain a long time ago. I’m as thankful to the BFI for bringing it back as its fans are — maybe more, because I can now see it myself as it was meant to be seen, on a big screen, in a perfect restoration. — James Ivory (June 2018)

Venues

October

31 October

KinoKulture, Owestry Film Society

November

14 November
Westacre Theatre, Norfolk

18 November
Curzon Oxford

December

10 December
Newlyn Filmhouse