Harold and Maude

A comedy about suicide and inappropriate relationships! Ok, so it doesn't sound on paper like the beautiful and heart-breakingly poignant film that it is. But "Harold and Maude" truly is a cinematic treasure!
Harold Chasen (Bud Cort) is a deeply troubled young man who is introduced to the audience in the midst of yet another feigned suicide attempt. Mother (Vivian Pickles) walks into the room just as Harold hangs himself. She begins with an exasperated scolding and then carries on a perfectly normal conversation with the suffocating Harold. Dinner plans are questioned as Harold turns increasingly pale. Already, the audience is aware that this is by no means your normal comedy.
Harold's attempts are often and scarily real. When Mrs. Chasen sets Harold up on a date, he has some fun by pretending to light himself on fire. His humor runs morbid and so does the humor of the film's. Harold is obsessed with death, going to the funerals of people he's never met. He drives a hearse and he doesn't have any friends. Then comes along Maude (Ruth Gordon). She's a chatty, quirky old woman who also likes funerals and meets up with Harold during a service. He thinks she's nuts, she thinks he's swell. The term "unlikely pair" does begin rattling in your brain.
Maude is persistent and Harold finds her vivaciousness attractive. She's way beyond his years yet she's more of a free spirit than he could ever hope to be. He comes over for tea and their relationship is initially platonic. But Harold makes that step and comes back to see Maude and what evolves is a relationship that is marked by both love and desire.
Gordon is terrific but it's really Cort who carries the film on his slender shoulders. As the depressive Harold, he taps into a soul so lonely and desperate for love that it stings. The scene in which he tells Maude the reasons behind his attempts is marvelously performed. Vivian Pickles as his cold and selfish mother is also wonderful. That look of sheer exasperation and boredom she has when looking at Harold is completely true to her character.
The script by Colin Higgins is wistfully comic and yet tragic, delving headfirst into the differing age dynamics of the time. The scene in which Mrs. Chasen fills out Harold's dating service form is both funny and sad, communicating the destructive force a parent can have if the child's wishes are ignored. Some of the characterization could use tweaking (as much as I loved Gordon in this film, her character seems to be taken straight out of the manic-pixie-dream-girl handbook) but that's a minor quibble. Higgins cuts right to the heart of the 70's, the kind of aimless indetermination that prompted such teens as Harold to act rashly to finally feel something.
Hal Ashby as director deftly balances biting dark comedy and satire with genuine emotion. The film has been compared to the likes of The Graduate, yet Ashby's direction is a lot less flashy and pronounced. Whereas The Graduate benefited from its stylistic, showy directorial style, Harold and Maude equally benefits from its directorial restraint.
The soundtrack is terrific, Cat Stevens lending the film a necessary buoyancy and reflexiveness. His songs are hopeful without being treacly.
The film concludes with a montage that is carefully orchestrated and emotionally explosive. Harold, baring the inevitable scars of tragedy, finally values what it means to live.