Comparing Maurice and Brokeback Mountain

I have yet to see Brokeback Mountain, but agree with your views on Maurice. To think there's all this big deal about gay movies now when Maurice, which was far more daring especially for it's time as you pointed out, was released 19 years ago.

yes i agree with you

In my opinion, Maurice illustrated more content than BBM, but it is attributed to the characters and the background. Maurice and Clive were all college students and the education they accepted have enable them to do a further thinking more than the simple struggle,especially Maurice. Forturnate as him, Maurice did not only have courage but he also met anothor brave boy who dared to share his life and love. As to Clive, he also found a way to solve the problems. Unlike Ennis, he devoted to his marriage seriously and, in my point of view, at least fulfilled his responsibilities without hurting other people, although the real happiness left him away and would never return.

But I do not deny that Brockback Moutain indeed touchs a lot of people's hearts,including mine. The scenes are so familiar to the daily life of everybody. Fears, anxieties, pressures--all these seems to constitute the most of our lives. We all have blue days in ourselves'experiences and a majority of people lack the courage to love, or even are unaware of the real meaning of it. We all are Ennis in some aspects. So we would feel deeply hurted at the last of the movie when Ennis lost Jack finally, which seems to reveal the deeply and painful regret for the similar things we have done. Besides, not like the colleges youths, the behaviors of Ennis and Jack are close to the daily routines, and the circumstances under which they live have an air of realistic. The exceeding loneliness and deathly stillness is all the common things that most of us are trying to surpass. Brokeback Mountain arouses the deeply desires, regrets and sorrows hiden under the surface of the seemingly peaceful heart lake. I love this movie.

I saw Brokeback Mountain yesterday, and I replayed my DVD of Maurice today. I have to agree with you. Maurice is the better film. It certainly has a less brutal and more positive ending.

BBM is a good film, but if it does not get the Best Picture Award I won't be upset.
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"Outside of a dog, a book is Man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." --G. Marx

While I agree with many of your comments, I disagree with your conclusions. I noticed the similarities between the two films myself (I saw BBM first though), and I found both to be fantastic films - moving and heartwarming.

I agree that the love scenes in Maurice are hotter than those in BBM, but I think that that makes sense given the different settings and characters. Maurice and Clive are from a world where, while homosexuality is denied, homosociality is encouraged. They are better educated, and are much more aware of feelings intellectually. As a result, they are better able to express their feelings verbally, even if they (Clive) are afraid of crossing the line into sex. In BBM, even homosociality between men is denied, leaving them unable to fully express themselves verbally and emotionally. As a result, they are left with the physical - and the sex scenes are more violent, more repressed than in Maurice. Basically, the scenes in Maurice are love-making, and the ones in BBM, especially the first one, are just plain sex. This changes over the course of the film - but the fact that they still can't talk about what they are doing keeps the tension high.

I'm not sure if I agree that BBM is any less daring in its scope than Maurice. The choice of characters (uneducated cowboys), the infedility, the gay bashing, are all elements that BBM deals with that are quite unique in my experience to gay cinema (though I admit, I haven't seen every movie ever created!). Also, the fact that it was made in 2005 as opposed to 1987 doesn't make it any less ambitious. For one thing, the difficulty in getting BBM made (close to ten years before a studio would commit), speaks to the level of conservatism in American society. As well, the social climate in the United States today is becoming increasingly homophobic, especially since Bush and his cronies were elected.

I agree that Ennis is much less disgusted with himself than Maurice. But I think that that can be explained through their backstory. Maurice was taught that his body was God's temple, and, beyond that, was not really aware of the possibilities. Clive's declaration of love comes as such a horror to him because he had never even considered the possibility. Ennis on the other hand, saw the results of gay bashing first hand when he was only a child. He grew up hearing gay jokes and derisive comments. Also, he is much more aware of his own body than Maurice is. Thus, it is likely that he was aware of his own homosexuality at a fairly young age, and thus, when he finds himself involved with Jack, he is frightened of what that means, rather than disgusted at the behaviour.

Also, while much of BBM takes place after Stonewall, in my experience the gay rights movement was largely confined to the cities. While there could be progress in large urban centres, small rural towns, especially in the midwest, with their much stronger gender stereotypes, would be resistant to any change. The small town I grew up in (though not in the American Midwest), only recognized homosexuality to make fun of it. Any hint of homosexuality was immediately punished. The neighbouring big city on the other hand, only 40 KMs away, had a gay village, a gay and lesbian newspaper, pride centres in both universities, pride parades every year... all the trappings of a post-Stonewall urban centre. So I think that BBM's lack of movement is really the result of the small town mentality, rather than not recognizing that the world had changed. And, other than Maurice, the characters in Maurice don't really change much either. They are still unable to speak of the reality, and remain just as bigoted and unforgiving as Ennis and Jack's world.

Finally, I don't think the desire in BBM is less realistically portrayed, just different. Jack and Ennis, Maurice and Clive, come from very different worlds, and have very different backgrounds. The level of education, the social class, the acceptance of homosociality, all combine to make it easier for Maurice and Clive to express their feelings in words; on the other hand, Ennis and Jack are mush more in touch with their physicality - and the looks in Jack's eyes, the tears that Ennis cries, both speak to a desire so strong that they are unable to express.

I loved both movies, and I think they work very well together. The happy ending that Maurice has, and the tragic ending of Ennis, all stem from overcoming fear. Maurice conquers his, and is able to have a happy ending; Ennis remains bound by fear, and is unable to truly be happy even before Jack is killed. But, unlike Clive, he does not throw himself into marriage, and his marriage is as much of a disaster as his affair.

Just a few thoughts!

Loosely speaking, both Ennis & Maurice live under unkind times where the threat of being killed (for Ennis) or jailed (for Maurice) is real. The difference is in the ending.
Its good to note the inspiration for these stories. Proulx wrote BBM after observing an old, poor and lonely casual farm worker eyeing some youths over the pool table in the Mint Bar, Sheridan Wyoming. She was told that bar goers will react negatively to gay customers. She worked chronologically backwards and arrived at 1963 when the farm worker would have been a young man.
Forster, on the other hand was partly inspired by Ed Carpenter, a Cambridge deacon who lived openly with George Merril, a general worker. Partly also Maurice is based loosely on his life.
Thus Ennis has a tragic ending and Maurice has a happy one. I will say that both stories are able to stand on their own and satisfying in themselves.

I see that the movies have a similar theme, but if you focus on class, you will see that Maurice, written in the early 20th century, is a lot about breaking class as it is about breaking the heterosexual rule. Clive and Maurice are as a couple a mix of the country gentry and the suburban, and Maurice and Alec the suburban and the working class. You may even wonder if it isn´t the mix of classes that is the real shocker in this edwardian society. Risley is punished so hard because he has currupted the lower classes.

Brokeback Mountain is more concentrated on the classical lone western hero dealing with a nonclassical conflict. Here we see the American fullblooded males with each other, experiancing true love.

On the other hand, there is the typical seducing images of the sensual object, Jake in Brokeback Mountain, and Alec in Maurice. This is a voyrism that can be detected in other similar love stories, such as Lady Chatterley´s lover. The connection to nature is also strong in all of these movies.

I totally agree with pogostiks. "Maurice" is superior in every respect. The film never even caused a stir in the US of A, simply because it was an "art house" film, not to mention the fact that it was filmed in the UK.

John Steven Lasher
Film Producer/Director/Editor