The Gay Period Drama The World Wasn’t Ready For: Merchant And Ivory’s ‘Maurice’ At 30

“Adapted from a posthumously published EM Forster novel that is likewise overshadowed in reputation by other works in his canon – like, well, Howards End and A Room With a View – Merchant Ivory’s film opened hot on the heels of their broadly beloved, Oscar-garlanded adaptation of the latter. Almost immediately, it was filed away as, if not a disappointment, a lesser diversion.” But now, in the post-Brokeback, post-Moonlightera and with a new high-def restoration, Guy Lodge argues that the time for this soft-spoken romance may finally have arrived.