Holly Reese
Harold and Maude
4-6-13
Harold and Maude is a quirky, character driven film. It has many elements of mise-en-scene, cinematography, and dark comedy that make it an excellent film to analyze. Hal Ashby does a wonderful job with this film. It is funny and sincere. Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon bring the complex characters of Harold and Maude to life to make this film interesting and intricate.
The dark humor of this film makes it hard for me to consider it a comedy. The humor is very subtle and addresses subject matter that some people may not find humorous. Firstly, Harold is obsessed with death and is constantly finding ways to fake his suicide. His mother is very blase about his antics which can make his attempts comical. My personal favorite is when he lights himself on fire to freak out the blind date that his mother has set up from a computer dating program. Suicide can be a sensitive subject and difficult to joke about but the way Harold is proud about his 15 attempts gives it a peculiar comedic spin.
Another taboo subject matter that Harold and Maude jokes about is the idea of a young boy falling in love with an eighty year old woman. The relationship between Harold and Maude is sometimes hard to watch. Bud Cort’s acting is very convincing and his character’s admiration for Maude is apparent when they are first introduced to each other. This relationship between Harold and Maude can be uncomfortable at times simply because of their obvious age difference. I can understand why some people would not enjoy this film only because of this awkward relationship.
Each time I watch this film I think something different about its ending. If it would have just ended with Harold’s car plummeting off of a cliff, the film would have left audiences with a tragic, depressed reaction. But because the car falls from the cliff and Harold can be seen with the banjo dancing along with Cat Stevens’ song, it has a somewhat happy ending. Perhaps Harold has learned the meaning of life from Maude, and this keeps the film within the “comedy” genre rather than “drama” genre of film. I always enjoy this film as as I mentioned before, it has many elements to analyze and deserves multiple viewings.
I feel like the reason we find Harold's suicides to be amusing is at the beggining his mom just ignores him, which is ironic, and as the film progresses we come to expect them and find humor in the dramatic way that he carries out his "suicides." Also, Maude makes the whole movie happier. Most of the humor surrounding her is not dark at all, or at least less dark than the humor employed with Harold and his family.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the humor. You really have to dig deep to even realize they're making a joke. About the ending, I feel you are also right. The symbolism in seeing the crashed hearse at the bottom of the cliff and Harold playing a banjo at the top of the cliff is obvious. Harold embraces life, even after Maude just embraced death.
ReplyDeleteI too felt it hard to classify this movie as a true comedy, it was more of a tragic comedy. I feel as if the car wreck was a symbolic death of the old Harold, for we see the "reborn" harold walk away with a new outlook on life.
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