Harold and Maude

A young man in his early 20s seeks to obtain that which he is most obsessed: death. So obsessed, in fact, that he performs elaborate fake suicides on a regular basis to show his discontent with life. His mother does not quite understand what he is going through, with her constant attempts to change her son from who he is. He also attends funerals frequently. One of these funerals is where he meets Maude. A nearly 80 old woman on the latter side of her life has a quite carefree mentality to everything in life. Harold finds great interest in her personality, and likewise Maude with Harold’s. Against the will of Harold’s family, the two fall in love.  Maude teaches Harold the valuable lesson of the value of life, to find value in himself. On Maude’s 80^th birthday, Harold throws here a surprise party. He finds out that she took a multitude of sleeping pills and she tells him that 80 is the perfect age to die. He rushes her to the hospital and she dies. Harold fakes his suicide by driving a car off of a cliff. He is seen walking away from the cliff, playing a banjo in the last scene. 

The film seems to revolve around it’s own soundtrack. The music of Cat Stevens seems to be the forefront of this movie. Stevens actually wrote two songs specifically for the film “Don’t Be Shy” and “If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out”. I feel that Harold and Maude’s music is the forefront of the message it is attempting to convey, which is to enjoy life. Cat Stevens music and lyrics are very upbeat to fit this theme. Every time that Harold tries to kill himself, or do something that does not involve dialogue, Cat Stevens is heard.I believe that the soundtrack of a film is very important. The music of Cat Stevens could have been used in the wrong manner. It was implemented into the movie correctly and it shows.