Currently Watching - Maurice (1987)

I just love that this is showing on TCM!

During a trip to a windswept beach, Maurice Hall, an eleven year old school boy, receives awkward instructions about the "sacred mysteries" of sex from his teacher, who wants to explain to the fatherless boy the changes he would experience in puberty.
Years later, in 1909, the now-grown Maurice is attending Cambridge, where he strikes a friendship with two fellow students: the aristocratic Lord Risley and the rich and handsome Clive Durham. Maurice and Clive become very close. Durham falls in love with his friend and surprises Maurice by confessing his feelings. At first Maurice is bewildered and does not react favorably to the revelation. Soon, however, he realizes that he reciprocates his friend's feelings. The two friends embark in a romantic love affair but, at Clive's insistence, their relationship remains platonic. Maurice accepts this, despite feeling a need for physical love. To go further, in Durham's opinion, would diminish them both. Clive, a member of the upper class, has a promising future ahead of him and does not want to tarnish his future. Their close relationship continues after Maurice is expelled from Cambridge, beginning a new career as a stockbroker in London.

The two friends keep their feelings secret because of the restrictions of Edwardian society. Both men, however, are frightened when their gay friend, Lord Risley, is arrested and sentenced to six months hard labor after soliciting sex from an army officer. Clive, afraid of being exposed as a homosexual, breaks up with Maurice. After his return from a trip to Greece, Clive, under pressure from his widowed mother, marries a naive rich girl named Anne, and settles into placid domesticity.
Heartbroken, Maurice looks for help from the family physician, the brash Doctor Barry, who dismisses Maurice's doubts as rubbish. Maurice then turns to Lasker-Jones, a specialist who tries to cure his homosexual longings with hypnosis. During his frequent visits to Clive's estate of Pendersleigh, Maurice's handsome good looks attract the attention of Alec Scudder, the under-gamekeeper who will soon emigrate with his family to Argentina. Due to their differences in status and social class, Maurice not only fails to notice Scudder's interest in him, but initially treats him with contempt. This does not seem to discourage Scudder, who spies on Maurice at night. Simcox, the butler at Pendersleigh, suspecting the true nature of Maurice and Clive's past relationship, has apparently given some clues to Scudder. On a rainy night, Scudder boldly climbs a ladder and enters Maurice's bedroom through an open window. Scudder kisses Maurice, who is completely taken by surprise but does not resist Scudder's sexual advances.
After their first night together, Maurice panics; after receiving a letter from Scudder proposing they meet at Pendersleigh's boathouse, he believes that Scudder is blackmailing him. Maurice goes to Lasker-Jones one more time for help and reveals that he slept with Scudder. The hypnotist warns Maurice that at one time homosexuals were executed in Britain, a country that "has always been disinclined to accept human nature". When Maurice fails to appear at the boathouse, Scudder travels to London to find him.
Maurice and Scudder meet at the British Museum to discuss what had happened. The blackmail misunderstanding is resolved, and they discover they are in love with each other. Maurice begins to call Scudder by his first name, Alec. This transgression of class differences fortifies the bond between the two, but they have to face not only the difficulties inherent in their same sex relationship but the equally unsurpassed differences in social class. They meet furtively in a hotel room. However their prospects for a long-term relationship seem dim; besides, Alec is leaving for Argentina. Maurice gives in and decides to at least give Alec a sendoff. He is taken aback when he does not find Alec at the port. Maurice then goes to Pendersleigh and talks to Clive one more time, giving closure to their relationship and telling him about Alec. Clive who was hoping that Maurice would marry, is bewildered after hearing what has transpired. The two friends depart and Maurice goes to the boathouse looking for Alec, who is there waiting for him. Scudder tells him that he sent a telegram to Maurice stating that he was to come to the boathouse. Alec has left his family and his plans to emigrate to stay with Maurice, telling him that "Now we shan't never be parted".