That's the point of view of a very elegant British lady who turns out to be the mother of one, Rupert Everett, a Cambridge student who ends up becoming a spy. Sure enough, a young student discovered to be dallying with a boy from another school makes that seem true after he hangs himself, but Everett is doing best to keep his feelings to himself. That becomes nearly impossible when he catches the eye of the sweet looking Cary Elwes, and a romantic dinner in public confirms that the attraction is mutual. The head of the student body insists that such incidents cannot occur again, and the camera focuses on a student who is obviously against that not happening. Everett and Elwes do more talking about life and the world and their experiences than showing their affection, but it's obvious that something between the two is building.
This is more a history lesson starting in the early 1930's than a gay love story, utilizing conflict over the young men's sexuality to guide along their destiny, showing the world of the affluent uppercrust and how political views were formed during a vulnerable period of time for young men trying to find themselves. A young Colin Firth is the communist supporting student whose extremist views rub off on Everett. It's obviously a changing world which the audience gets to see through the greenery surrounding the stuffy world of Cambridge, and for those familiar with the gay references that Lord Robert Grantham made on "Downton Abbey", you can see why some had acceptance in a lightly liberal way and others were violently repulsed even by the hint of homosexuality.
Gorgeous physical locations abound aides this in revealing details only dealt with in passing, and my issue with the film is that it's a lot of exposition and little plot during the first half of the movie. So those expecting a period gay romance will not get their wish, but it's very clear that this is meant to be something a little deeper than that. Coming out during the rising years of the Merchant Ivory type films like "The Europeans", "Quartet" and "The Bostonians", this is similarly in tune with them, but this is far more political than social, so viewers should be a bit more mature than I was when I first saw this in my mid 20's, because 30+ years later, I get it a lot more which has caused me to change my overall rating.
This is more a history lesson starting in the early 1930's than a gay love story, utilizing conflict over the young men's sexuality to guide along their destiny, showing the world of the affluent uppercrust and how political views were formed during a vulnerable period of time for young men trying to find themselves. A young Colin Firth is the communist supporting student whose extremist views rub off on Everett. It's obviously a changing world which the audience gets to see through the greenery surrounding the stuffy world of Cambridge, and for those familiar with the gay references that Lord Robert Grantham made on "Downton Abbey", you can see why some had acceptance in a lightly liberal way and others were violently repulsed even by the hint of homosexuality.
Gorgeous physical locations abound aides this in revealing details only dealt with in passing, and my issue with the film is that it's a lot of exposition and little plot during the first half of the movie. So those expecting a period gay romance will not get their wish, but it's very clear that this is meant to be something a little deeper than that. Coming out during the rising years of the Merchant Ivory type films like "The Europeans", "Quartet" and "The Bostonians", this is similarly in tune with them, but this is far more political than social, so viewers should be a bit more mature than I was when I first saw this in my mid 20's, because 30+ years later, I get it a lot more which has caused me to change my overall rating.