More reflections on Maurice

[charlie_cochrane]

I 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.

Comments

[bigolarthurfan.livejournal.com]

This is a nice incentive to look again at both the book and the movie. I read the book ages ago shortly after it was first published. Honestly, I don't recall much beyond the basics. I also saw the movie when it first came out, then once again a few years back. I do remember thinking that the wistful remembrance in the movie felt tacked on and awkward. It would have worked better had they stayed true to the book, I think. I thought Clive's motivations in the movie for cooling off were plausible. However, with your reminder of how it was handled in the book, it does feel like something of a cop out.

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

*nods* I know a screenwriter can't handle all the complexities in a film, but it was a shame to have kept it so simple, if that makes sense, when the book is much more complex and true to life. Re-reading was an eye opener for me. I thought I'd remembered why Maurice went to the psychiatrist (the incident with Dicky) but it was more complex than that.