Harold and Maude is a romantic comedy film that focuses on the contrasts of youth and age, apathy and energy, and life and death. Harold Chasen is a wealthy young man with an obsession with death. He frequently stages mock suicides, so much so that his domineering mother doesn't pay attention. To entertain himself, Harold goes to funerals of people he never knew. On multiple occasions he runs into Maude Chardin, an energetic octogenarian woman who believes in living life to its fullest. An unusual friendship is formed between them, one in which Harold is taught to open himself to his feelings and the world and play the banjo. Their friendship evolves into a relationship, and they have sex. Harold plans on marrying Maude, but that plan ends when it is found that she purposely took a fatal dose of pills and dies after being sent to the hospital. In his grief, Harold fakes a suicide one last time and then cheerfully plays the banjo.
In our society today (or even back......
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Approximate Word Count: 471
Approximate Pages: 2 (260 words per double-spaced page) |