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More reflections on Maurice
Jul. 9th, 2014 02:50 pmI think the problem I have is that the Clive of the film is not the Clive of the book, except perhaps in the middle scenes at Pendersley/Penge.
Book Clive decides he doesn't want any physical interactions with men - even though he loves them - before he meets Maurice, and for religious/philosophical reasons. There seems to be no suggestion in the book that Clive is worried about blackmail, nor that something along those lines makes him cool off on Maurice. He simply writes a letter to say that he's "become normal" and then decides he should have said he doesn't love Maurice anymore. The film is too kind to him, giving him an understandable motivation.
The end of the film isn't true to book Clive, either. The wistful remembrance of Maurice at Cambridge doesn't happen until Clive is in his dotage.
On the other hand, just about everyone else in the film is true to the book's vision of them.
Book Clive decides he doesn't want any physical interactions with men - even though he loves them - before he meets Maurice, and for religious/philosophical reasons. There seems to be no suggestion in the book that Clive is worried about blackmail, nor that something along those lines makes him cool off on Maurice. He simply writes a letter to say that he's "become normal" and then decides he should have said he doesn't love Maurice anymore. The film is too kind to him, giving him an understandable motivation.
The end of the film isn't true to book Clive, either. The wistful remembrance of Maurice at Cambridge doesn't happen until Clive is in his dotage.
On the other hand, just about everyone else in the film is true to the book's vision of them.
