MovieChat Forums > Maurice (1987) Discussion > Alec's past experience

Alec's past experience


Having first seen "Maurice" when it was in theatrical release, and having viewed it numerous times since, I can't help but wonder about Alec's past "experience." E.M. Forster doesn't help a lot with this as he gives very little information in the book about Alec's background.

However, it's obvious that Alec is more sexually experienced than Maurice in both the movie and the book. My feeling is that he has tried it with both women and men, and has decided that he prefers men.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

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I have no opinion myself, but some people that has written essays and other stuff on the internet seems to see Alec as a bisexual that has tried it with both women and men, and doesn't prefer anything. But I haven't even read the book (shame, shame!) so I really don't know...

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In the book he and Maurice have a longer conversation in the British Museum that establishes that Alec is bisexual. He says he never "came like that to a gentleman before", but note that it's a gentleman, not necessarily a man.

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Actually, I think part of that conversation made it into the movie also... and I always thought it meant that Alec had been with men before, but from his own social class. Maurice was the first "gentleman" he ever came on to.

Also, in the hotel room, Alec tells Maurice he was attracted to him from the first moment he saw him. He says later that their relationship wouldn't work because of differences in social and economic standing; he doesn't say "I want to get married and have children someday," which is usually the line used by men who are in denial of or confused about their sexual orientation (and believe me, I've known my share of those).

Alec is a sexy, attractive man who could probably have any number of girls. However, in the end he bags everything so that he can be with a man -- Maurice. Hence my opinion that Alec really does prefer men.

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[deleted]

"Class differences" would certainly have entered the equation...you only have to look back to the slightly earlier time than Maurice is set and see how Oscar Wilde was treated..to many Oscars Greater crime was not that he had had relationships with other men, but that many had been from much "lower classes" ..the Victorians and Edwardians were ruthless in trying to maintain that classes did not mix, and certainly not in any form of male relationship.

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[deleted]

I seem to remember a conversation the vicar has with Alec about morals, in the novel he mentions Alec may have gotten a young woman pregnant. The line was left out of the movie. I can't find my copy right now, but I'm pretty sure about it.

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I've re-checked the novel text and find nothing about Alec getting a girl pregnant. Mr Broenius has one conversation with Maurice where he wishes that Alec were married before he left England, but I always took that to mean that as an attractive (and not religious) young man, Alec had great potential for getting a girl into trouble, not that he actually had.

When Mr. Broenius and Maurice speak again on Alec's (missed) ship, Maurice is momentarily terrified when he thinks Mr. Broenius has guessed the truth about him and Alec. He fears that both he and Alec are walking into a trap, but only a few seconds later he hears The Rector saying that he suspected Alec of sensuality with *women* on the night he went missing in London. Mr. Broenius is in fact right about the sensuality, but way off the mark on with whom.

Maurice is momentarily so shaken by all this and the thought that the scene was going to be a repetition of the one in which Clive said "I don't love you anymore" he can barely speak. He's only jarred back into reality by the realization that Alec was not aboard the last train, and will consequently miss the boat.

We unfortunately don't know a great deal about Alec, but I think it's safe to say that he agonized over his own feelings as much if not more than Maurice did over his. Whatever his past relationships with women might have been, he comes to the double conclusion that he not only prefers men, but that he also loves Maurice. At that point he decides to miss his boat, and sends the wire to Maurice telling him to "come to the boathouse without fail."

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In the movie, when they ring for the servant girl because of the leak in the roof, Clive's mother berates her "We had to ring twice! Twice!"
Alec comes in just after that, and the way he and the servant girl look at each other, it seems as if he might have been the reason she didn't answer immediately.

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In the book, Alec had sex with 2 girls, none of whom are pretty which made Maurice even more jealous. In the film Alec waited at the boat house with another worker for a tryst with Maurice. I think Alec is game for anything.

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I don't remember anything about Alec having sex with 2 girls but when Maurice visits Clive's home and sees Alec for the first time, he is messing about and kissing a couple of maids and I'm sure he didn't bring anyone else to the boathouse for a threesome. That goes against the book completely.

I think that Alec is a very sexual person without the inhibitions and repression of Maurice and is not afraid to follow his instincts and satisfy himself so I think he would enjoy both men and women but Maurice is the first person he has fallen in love with.

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I agree - Alec certainly isn't repressed about sex in general, but I don't think it's exactly his style to propose a threesome. I haven't seen the film yet, but in the book Maurice gets right up Alec's nose simply because he thinks he should go to a business dinner rather than stay in the hotel with him, so I don't think Alec wants to share Maurice with anyone at all, especially in that way.

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I don't think Alec wants to share Maurice with anyone at all, especially in that way.


I honestly hadn't ever considered the idea of Alec being possessive of Maurice, but I actually like it!

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[deleted]

<<I think Alec is game for anything. >>

Well, he is the gamekeeper! (Sorry -- couldn't help it!) ;-)

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