Harold and Maude

“A lot of people enjoy being dead. But they are not dead, really. They're just backing away from life.” That’s true. Age is not important, there are many octogenarians with more zest for life than not few twenty-year-olds. Harold was likeable in every way, Maude blew me away with her optimism for life. If your are to grow old and die, at least do it with grace. A pleasant, funny and touching experience. (2008-07-03)

The titles start, unforgettable music plays, and I feel like living, singing, and doing anything else that comes to mind, everything I have never done before in my life, including transplanting trees or playing banjo, because all of it now seems irresistible, sweet, and important to me. Additionally, Hal Ashby brilliantly divides the emotions into two completely different but equally powerful storylines. In a house that serves as a venue for irresistible suicide attempts and ideological conflicts with your mother, the viewer does not know when to stop laughing; when Harold is with Maude, apart from laughter, I also experienced melancholy and very strong feelings of a romance all that much more urgent in its believability. And at the moment when the titles resume and I can barely see through my tears, which are flowing from all possible emotions, Harold, 35 years older – Bud Cort – comes onto the stage, and I know that I will never forget this moment. (2007-07-04)

I originally gave the film only 4 stars, but when I thought about how to justify the absence of the last star, I was at a loss. Harold and Maude is a beautiful film and it’s no coincidence that it shows up in several polls for the best films of all time. Its big advantage is that Hal Ashby not only knew exactly what he wanted to do, but also when he wanted to do it. By all accounts, the early 1970s found America in a state of emotional and attitudinal fragmentation, and with the country shaken by the Vietnam War as well as the slowly fading hippie movement, the effect of this darkly humorous story full of contrasts was, like The Graduate a few years earlier, enormous. And the crystal-clear quality of Ashby's work is perfectly evidenced by the fact that if we watch it now, almost 40 years later, we can not only soak up the specific atmosphere of that time alongside the taciturn Harold and the energetic Maude, but also have a royal good time. 90% (2013-07-22)

From the beginning, it is clear that this film will go its own way, with its own poetics. The audience will either accept it or not. I think it is not so difficult to accept it. Yes, both main actors are very peculiar people, but that is precisely why they fit together perfectly and why they are so perfectly bizarre. Both want to live, but it seems like they can only live in the shadow of death, at least until they meet each other. It doesn't matter how old they are, it doesn't matter what their prejudices are, it always depends on whether two people understand each other. And these two understood each other perfectly. The beautiful poetics of the film are complemented by excellent performances, which are truly unique. And the ending... It is simply beautiful. In a certain sense of the word, of course. (2014-01-17)