User:Dina/Harold and Maude

Summary
The film first introduces us to Harold, an alienated young man from a wealthy family who lives in a large mansion with his domineering mother. Harold stages realistic mock-suicides. This has evidently been going on for so long that his mother takes no notice, other than when Harold causes a particular mess with his fake blood. For amusement, Harold attends funerals of people he doesn't know. At these he repeatedly sees Maude, a 79-year-old woman who befriends him. Maude is very much his opposite: a senior citizen, energetic, impulsive, and light-hearted. The two form an unlikely friendship.

Plot description
The film credits roll over a long scene of Harold preparing a fake hanging, the first of many mock suicides over the course of the film. His mother is indifferent to his swaying body and instructs him to come to the dinner party she has planned for that evening and be "vivacious". After the dinner party he stages an elaborate, blood-soaked fake suicide in her bathroom, causing her to declare that she cannot take it anymore and cry. Thereafter his mother takes an interest in his future and attempts to make him fill out a "computer dating form." He also visits his therapist, a dry Freudian, and is compelled to visit his uncle, a one armed general. His therapist asks him at one point what he likes to do for fun. Harold answers gloomily "I like to go to funerals." He purchases a hearse and is seen standing at several strangers funerals. He notices an elderly woman at many of the funerals he attends. At one of the funerals the woman introduces herself as Maude, before driving away in a car that is revealed she has stolen from the reverend. At one funeral, Maude steals Harold's hearse, and as they drive away she offers to drive him home. He reveals that she is actually driving his car, and she replies that then he can driver her home. Meanwhile, Mrs. Chase has scheduled a series of "computer dates" for Harold. Each woman shows up to their huge house and are ushered to the drawing room by Mrs. Chase. Harold devises a method to shock and dismay each potential mate by faking his suicide. Meeting Maude and visiting her home is clearly revelatory for the dry, withdrawn Harold. Her house is filled with art of her own creation. She invites him to look at her art and to touch one of her "tactiles" a large wooden sculpture with soft flowing forms and an overall resemblance to a vulva. Harold caresses the object while Maude makes tea and is After the third date, Mrs. Chase is so upset with