So the movie I was going to watch that was recommended to me today was absolutely horrible, so I opted to watch this instead. There’s a reference to this movie in a lyric of a song that I can’t seem to remember, even though I can hear the artist’s voice clearly singing it…possibly Cursive or Fionn Regan but I’m not sure. Anyway, that’s how I know of this movie. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by this film.
This movie is about an unusual son of a wealthy family that seems to suffer from extreme ennui and likes to pretend to kill himself in various ways to get a reaction from his cold and oblivious mother, who was portrayed amazingly. He meets an even more unusual. much older lady and they become friends as she takes him on crazy adventures. They fall in love and unfortunately, their relationship is cut short by Maude’s actual suicide on her 80th birthday. The ending is bittersweet as Harold is devastated but is able to realize life is still worth living, something Maude was able to make him realize.
There is a lot of dry and dark humor in this movie that hits perfectly, it’s doesn’t come off as tryhard. There’s a great scene where Harold breaks the fourth wall and it’s executed so well, it actually made me smile. The scenes where he’s doing his best to thwart his mom’s attempts at getting him to date are also quite funny. It does feel a little dated, but it was made in the early 70s and I really enjoy the aesthetic of that era, the cars, clothes, colors, and music. The soundtrack is done by Cat Stevens and it’s pretty great, although at times it seems like there didn’t need to be a song playing. The characters are interesting and well written, the comic reliefs are placed appropriately, and the acting is great.
This isn’t the genre of movies I’m usually into, but I did quite enjoy this movie. It was light hearted, but still dark with some heavy themes hanging over the comedy. The scene where Harold discovers Maude has taken pills is probably one of my favorites because she is so nonchalant about it, happy even, and he’s angry, confused, and heartbroken all at the same time. There’s also the fact that his mom only cares about his success so that she won’t have a failure as a son, his therapist doesn’t really care about his problems, and he has no friends until he meets Maude, it’s quite depressing. I didn’t really like him until after he meets Maude and goes through some nice character development, further proof of the excellent writing seen in the movie.
I give it an 8/10, would definitely watch again. (Word count: 464)
Baphomet's Theatre 