Maurice

An unnecessary re-release of a truly superb film is brought to us on the platter of FilmFour's newly developed, though predictably old school, "Classic Collection" label.

Maurice was a truly groundbreaking work when first released in 1987, based on EM Forster's novel concerning a love affair between two Cambridge graduates - Maurice (James Wilby, who is superb in this, his first starring role, but unfortunately never developed his career much past playing exactly the same character) and Clive (Hugh Grant - whatever happened to him?) - struggling to make sense of a doomed relationship that cannot exist within the confines of the Great War's rigid and hypocritical society. This is perfectly captured by the Greek Professor who cannot face references in a text of any sexual nature so transposes them in his translation to something altogether triter.

Forster never finished the manuscript of Maurice, so similarly we are left slightly hanging at the end of the film as no firm conclusion is reached. The supporting cast are uniformly excellent and read like a Who's Who of Merchant Ivory production, though the true revelation here is Grant who shows just how much promise he had in the early days before he was sucked into the floppy haired fop that he has traded off for years. It's disappointing that this DVD release is reduced to the plain vanilla extra-free version that FilmFour has put out at least twice already and has none of the fascinating extras of the Merchant Ivory label's edition.

Extras: None.

Released on 17th March 2008 by 4DVD.

Written by Simon Cole.