DVD Review: Harold and Maude (1971)
A film that revolves around the relationship of a death-fixated teenager and an 80-year-old woman doesn't sound like the most enthralling of prospects, but somehow it works - turning Harold and Maude into a genuine cult classic - and one that's just been reissued in the UK.
The teenager is Harold, a bored rich kid who gets his kicks from simulating death in front of his mother. And going to funerals. In fact, that's where he meets Maude - who also spends her spare time hanging out near graves, but unlike Harold, she isn't fixated with death, living every day as her last - because she knows that soon, it will be her last.
As Harold's mother desperately tries to fix up her son with someone for marriage and generally make him into a 'normal' son, he's building a relationship with Maude and starting to experience the joy of many things for the first time - art, music, nature, even breaking the law. And all the time, becoming ever closer to Maude. Until one day, he decides she's the woman for him. And that's when it all goes wrong.
I doubt that summary has really done justice to the film - it's a movie you just have to watch to appreciate. Part comedy and part love story, you might even shed a few tears before the end - but not before you've laughed good few times and marveled at the E-Type Jaguar pimped up like a funeral hearse. And there's a great soundtrack too, courtesy of Cat Stevens.
A quirky movie that might not obviously appeal looking at the box, but believe me, Harold and Maude is well worth adding to our collection.
Extras on the DVD:
Sold with reproduction movie poster
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