My Encounter with Harold and Maude

Sometimes a movie shows up in your life as if it had been waiting for you. It's strange, but it happens. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular I just wanted to watch something different, something old, because lately, new stuff hasn’t been hitting the same way it used to. That’s how, after years of seeing that poster around the one with two figures on a motorcycle against an orange background I finally hit play on Harold and Maude, a 1971 film I honestly didn’t even know the plot of.

Harold and Maude1971

And now that I’ve seen it, I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s weird how some movies arrive late, but end up feeling like the most necessary ones. Harold and Maude didn’t just appeal to me it cut right through me. It struck a nerve I didn’t even realize I’d neglected. And the best part? It did it without trying too hard, without big effects or complicated speeches. Just with a strange, tender story that still makes me smile every time I think about it.

The plot, for those who don’t know it, goes like this: Harold is a young, rich guy, pretty apathetic, with a strange fixation on death. He enjoys attending strangers’ funerals, fakes his own suicide in front of his mother (more than once, and in increasingly creative ways), and basically lives like he’s already dead inside. One day, at one of those funerals, he meets Maude, a 79 year old woman with a life force that seems to come from another planet. She’s eccentric, funny, unpredictable… and completely free. In that bizarre and beautiful way, they meet, become friends, and eventually yesthey fall in love.

And yeah, I know what you’re thinking. A romance between a 20 year old and a nearly 80 year old woman? Believe me, I thought the same. But that’s the brilliance of this movie. What would be uncomfortable or even grotesque in any other context, here feels natural, poetic, and most importantly, real. The chemistry between Harold and Maude isn’t physical it’s spiritual. She teaches him to live, to let go, to see the world with new eyes. And he reminds her how precious it is to still find beauty in the everyday.

There’s something about Maude that reminded me of all the people I’ve met who refuse to grow old on the inside. She’s like a rebellious fairy, stealing trees to return them to the forest, playing the piano almost mystically, and saying things that sound like they came from a street philosopher’s notebook. It’s impossible not to fall in love with her, and I completely get why Harold did. And I get why I, sitting on my couch years later, feeling like the world sometimes turns gray, needed to see her appear on my screen.

Another thing that hooked me was the music. The entire soundtrack is by Cat Stevens, with songs that feel like whispers at just the right moments, telling you exactly what you didn’t know how to express. Gentle songs, like a hand on your shoulder not telling you everything will be okay, but reminding you that you can still keep walking.

Harold and Maude isn’t a perfect movie in the traditional sense. There are moments that feel a little nuts, over the top, and I’m sure some people won’t like it. But for me, that’s part of its magic. It’s like a wildflower growing through the cracks in concrete. It’s not there to be admired by everyone. It’s there because it had to grow, because something in the universe decided that little act of beauty was worth it.

I don’t even know how to describe what I felt watching it, because it wasn’t one single emotion. It was a mix. I laughed, I got melancholic, I stayed quiet when it ended. But more than anything, I kept thinking. Thinking about what it really means to be alive. About how often we lock ourselves into routines, fears, what we’re supposed to be, and forget to dance, to run in the rain, to play a song even if we don’t know how.

The craziest thing is that this movie was made over 50 years ago. Half a century. And yet, it feels more current than many modern films that try to talk about love, life, or freedom. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t try to send a message. It just shows you two people who find each other, who recognize each other, and who transform one another. And really, isn’t that all we can hope for in life?

So yeah, this movie made its way into my favorites list without asking permission. Not because it’s perfect, but because it’s deeply human. And now I wonder how many more gems like this I’ve been missing. How many forgotten stories are out there, waiting to be found at just the right time.

If you like different movies the kind that don’t look like anything else but somehow feel like a strange but necessary hug Harold and Maude is for you. I don’t know if you’ll like it, I don’t know if it’ll be your kind of story, but I do know you won’t forget it easily. Because some movies aren’t just movies. Some are reminders. And this one, for me, was one of the good ones.