MovieChat Forums > Harold and Maude (1971) Discussion > Maude was annoying

Maude was annoying

posted 15 years ago by ksqueaker-1
21 replies | jump to latest

I rented this movie last night, expecting it to be great (I had heard a few times that it was a cinematic precursor to Wes Anderson's films) and was disappointed. I'd give it a solid B+, because although Harold was an intriguing, likeable character, Maude was so darn chipper and everything she said was very egocentric- like, "Well <b>I</b> think that you gotta look at life like this!" Or "<B>I<b/> love these flowers!" Her philosophy on life was so cheesy, and the film begged viewers to fall hook, line and sinker for it. I liked Harold in the beginning, as a gloomy boy, much more than I liked the dancing banjo-player Harold in the end.

Did anyone else find Maude's words to be mere platitudes? Or am I being curmudgeonly?

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[–] InsecureNeuroticControlFreak 15 years ago

So you'd prefer Harold's character remain an unhappy person who is dying inside rather than the happy, uplifted person he is by the end? You're a sick, sick man :P

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[–] laurah82 14 years ago

I know what you mean. Maude was a little much. Okay, a lot much. The scene where he starts crying, and she chimes in with the "L.I.V.E. Live!" chant and sport reference is what did it for me. If she would have toned it down a little, this film would have been more enjoyable. But I still loved it!

[–] novastar_6 14 years ago

Well she didn't just jump into that, she explained to Harold that a lot of people felt like he did, preferring to be dead even though they weren't dead, just shying away from living, and what's the point in that?

[–] lucyjad 13 years ago

I think that the character of Maude needs to be viewed in the context of the horrible experiences she encountered in WW2. You might find her comments cliched platitudes, but perhaps once you have witnessed something as terrible as the holocaust you view life's 'little' problems with more humour. Everything in her life would have been relativised by her past experiences.

[–] rakshasis 14 years ago

IMHO, they stopped being platitudes when Harold (and the viewer) realizes her past, that she had horrible experiences as a younger person. She was 80 in 1971 let's assume, so during the war she was already an adult, who likely lost her whole family including husband and children, under most vile circumstances. This also might relate to her "body giving out" as it is likely she underwent torture and starvation. (I'd almost like to see a prequel to this - what was her outlook before the concentration camp?)

He was the same person in the beginning and end of the film. He just rectified his mistake to stay in his extremely negative and emotionally bereft household that he made after the accident at school.

Happiness can be triggered by a new perspective.

[–] TeaBunny 14 years ago

I can totally see your point on Maude's attitudes, and if it were a 20-year old acting like that I would agree completely. But Maude apparently has a whole lifetime of pain and misery that may have led up to her outrageousness and that gives her a bit more depth than the Rapping Granny or the motorcycle-driving Grampa on his way to Lollapalooza.

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[–] bhikkhu 13 years ago

Maude was SO obnoxious.

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[–] kotl77 13 years ago

Maude is obnoxious and unrealistically outrageous and and her actions are more or less meant to pull you in but that's just silly. Someone at her age can not get away with the bonkers things she did in the movie but regardless of that I don't think we're suppose to be putting all too much attention on into that aspect. It's the heart and meaning of the movie that matters opposed to the silly things done in it.

[–] greenbudgie 10 years ago

You have got it right about Maude's philosophy. She didn't say anything which made me think "She's got something there." She is just a meandering old crank who pretends that she has life all sorted out.

[–] spaceagegal 10 years ago

You have to remember also, she knew the end was coming. She had already made up her mind she was going to die when she turned 80 years old. she was getting the most out of life, doing crazy things like stealing cars, because in the end it would not matter.

[–] fugazzi49 9 years ago

Maude was obnoxious, narcissistic and ridiculous. There was nothing in her back story to explain her. She wasn't a real character, merely a cartoon that spouted the most extreme and over the top 60's cliches. Yeah, "Do your own thing".

[–] mfaugnos-937-704003 9 years ago

'There was nothing in her back story to explain her. She wasn't a real character"

Really? Ah, how about surviving the Holocaust in a concentration camp -- seeing
one's entire family destroyed by the governing party of your country! Talk about
a back story!