Overview
A darkly comedic exploration of life and death through an unlikely friendship.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- macabre
- witty
- irreverent
- late night viewing
- classic film night
What critics said
Though its dark humor and unconventional romance initially divided critics, the film is now broadly celebrated for its warm humor, big heart, and enduring screenplay.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Harold, a young adult, falls in love with Maude, a woman nearing eighty, overturning expectations about romantic compatibility.
Harold repeatedly fakes elaborate suicides, using death imagery as performance in response to his mother's indifference and social pressure.
Funerals, hearses, fake suicides, and mortality are repeatedly framed through irreverent humor while Maude champions pleasure and experience.
Harold's mother pushes therapy, dating, and normality, while Maude encourages him to live beyond upper-class respectability.
Films like Harold and Maude, and why
Being There
shares darkly comic treatment of alienation, unconventional romance, and life-affirming rebellion
The Graduate
shares eccentric outsider protagonists, countercultural humor, and a bittersweet challenge to social norms
Lars and the Real Girl
shares an unconventional relationship, melancholic comedy, and tenderness toward socially isolated characters
The Addams Family
shares macabre humor, outsider romance, and a warm but emotionally affecting tone
Movie Details
- Director
- Hal Ashby
- Release Date
- 1971-12-20
- Runtime
- 92 min
- Rating
- 7.6 / 10 (1250)
Cast
- Ruth Gordon
- Bud Cort
- Vivian Pickles
- Cyril Cusack
- Charles Tyner
- Ellen Geer
- Eric Christmas
- G. Wood
- Judy Engles
- Shari Summers
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- JustWatch TV, Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Harold and Maude about?
- A morbidly theatrical young man finds an exhilarating philosophy of life in an eighty-year-old fellow funeral crasher.
- What is Harold and Maude like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Harold and Maude as brisk, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Harold and Maude violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Harold and Maude as mild.
- What did critics think of Harold and Maude?
- Though its dark humor and unconventional romance initially divided critics, the film is now broadly celebrated for its warm humor, big heart, and enduring screenplay.
- Which films are like Harold and Maude?
- Films with a similar feel include Being There, The Graduate, Lars and the Real Girl, and The Addams Family.
- How long is Harold and Maude?
- Harold and Maude runs 92 minutes.
- Where can I watch Harold and Maude?
- In United States, Harold and Maude is available to rent or buy from JustWatch TV, Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
