For years, I'd heard numerous good things about this low-budget cult comedy, but somehow I never ran across it. Well, last night I did, and I'm pleased to say that it truly is a superbly nuanced, beautiful piece of cinema. You probably wouldn't think a film could work as a black comedy, a biting social satire, and a sweet, sincere romance all at once, but Harold and Maude does--brilliantly.
Harold Chasen (Bud Cort) is a repressed young man whose main outlets are attending funerals and staging of elaborate pseudo-suicides, much to the annoyance of his controlling rich-bitch mother (Vivian Pickles). At one of these funerals, he meets Maude (Ruth Gordon), a wise, free-spirited old woman who careens around California in "borrowed" cars. What follows is one of the funniest and most touching pairings in screen history, exploring love, death, and the importance of living.
All around, a witty, intelligent, wonderful picture, from the sparkling performances to the seamlessly executed material. I'm not much of a Cat Stevens fan (records like "Wild World" make my teeth grind), but the soundtrack here is truly great. In fact, the sanitized, get-along world could stand to learn something from Gordon's delightful heroine: Existing is not the same as Living, and not living is a fate far worse than death. Thanks, Maude.
Harold Chasen (Bud Cort) is a repressed young man whose main outlets are attending funerals and staging of elaborate pseudo-suicides, much to the annoyance of his controlling rich-bitch mother (Vivian Pickles). At one of these funerals, he meets Maude (Ruth Gordon), a wise, free-spirited old woman who careens around California in "borrowed" cars. What follows is one of the funniest and most touching pairings in screen history, exploring love, death, and the importance of living.
All around, a witty, intelligent, wonderful picture, from the sparkling performances to the seamlessly executed material. I'm not much of a Cat Stevens fan (records like "Wild World" make my teeth grind), but the soundtrack here is truly great. In fact, the sanitized, get-along world could stand to learn something from Gordon's delightful heroine: Existing is not the same as Living, and not living is a fate far worse than death. Thanks, Maude.