Harold and Maude
Directed by Hal Ashby
- comedy
- drama
- romance
The story
A deadpan young man obsessed with death meets an eccentric septuagenarian who teaches him to live life to the fullest.
What it’s like
Warm, wry and quietly melancholy, with a bright pastel palette set against funeral-grey backdrops. Harold and Maude is shot in soft natural light and crisp, unhurried compositions: a lot of still framing of rooms, lawns and cemetery paths, with the camera letting awkward silences hang. Its sound is a gently whimsical score of folk-tinged strings and piano that turns bittersweet when it counts, and its pacing is leisurely, with comic set-pieces (staged suicides, bursts of unexpected joy) landing in calm, deadpan rhythm. Tone-wise it sits between dark comedy and tender romance, the mood of a slow Sunday afternoon with a mug of tea, or a comfort rewatch when you want to feel something without being flattened. Death and suicide are central subjects, including attempts shown with dark humour, but there is no graphic gore; the violence is brief, mostly staged and cartoonish, and the emotional weight comes from its gentle, unlikely love story between a lonely young man and a vivacious older woman. Best for viewers who enjoy offbeat, bittersweet comedy about grief and living fully, and who can handle its frank treatment of death.
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