For others, Harold
and Maude is a dark comedy, but for me it’s a perfect romance movie. A truly
great romance movie is more than two people falling in love. Romance is more than
sweet gestures and kind words. Romance is about delving into the world,
exploring it, and then sharing that exploration with the one you love. In Harold and Maude, Harold is delving
into the only world he knows of, full of isolation and loneliness. Many find
these states of being comparable to death because both isolation and loneliness
are defined by an absence, and death is the ultimate absence. The sadness and
grief that follows in death’s wake are overwhelming tortuous emotions. The
juxtaposition of absence occurring with death to the overwhelming emotions of
grief is a source of confusion for Harold, and in his travels to clear this
confusion he meets Maude. Maude is a great explorer of the world. We glean that
she’s seen her share of horrors. Her outlook on life makes no time for sadness,
loneliness, or grief. She doesn’t conquer them so much as disregard them as
meaningless to following the spirit of life. She finds joy in every moment. She
is a force of nature. Harold and Maude
is the perfect romance because it’s two people sharing with each other their
discoveries of the world with love and understanding. The humor is wonderfully
dark. It’s extremely easy to see the writer’s commenting on America’s
involvement in the Vietnam War and drawing parallels to the story. Keep that in
mind and the already rich minefield of wonderful surprises Harold and Maude has in store for you will become even more
entertaining.
