Credits Report: Harold and Maude
Filed under: Comedy, Fandom, Trailers and Clips
It doesn't seem like the right fit. The camera follows a pair of feet slowly down the staircase and over to the record player. Soon Cat Stevens' "Don't Be Shy" is playing: "Don't be shy, just let your feelings roll on by. Don't wear fear, or nobody will know you're there. Just lift your head, and let your feelings out instead." It's a nice song, in classic, melodious Stevens style -- the sort you would imagine for a movie of lightness and sweetness -- but it's also the perfect match for dark satire -- the perfect accompaniment to Harold's fake suicide.
There's nothing about the credit sequence to Harold and Maude that I don't love. The plain, sans serif font nestles right at home against the slow camera trail as Harold sets up his fake end. The camera doesn't dare pan back until the deed is done, allowing us a sort of keyhole look into his technique. And once he's hanging, there's no better way to relay the feel of the film than his mother walking in busy in her own thoughts, seeing him, pausing, and then continuing with her path. You don't know why she's indifferent to her son's apparent suicide, but you do know that we've entered a Swiftian, satirical world where things aren't exactly status quo.
As much as I love some of the more intricate and fancy credit sequences that hit screens today, I hold a large slab of appreciation for perfection in simplicity, and how an unassuming approach and a carefully shot scene can be just as powerful as an explosion of flair.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-06-2009 @ 5:05PM
Midnight13 said...
Great choice. "Harold and Maude" is pretty darn perfect from beginning to end. For anyone who sees this film for the first time, you either get turned off by the fact that a character you never got to know just commited suicide, or you find it even more fascinating once you find out that the whole thing was a fake.
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9-08-2009 @ 10:05AM
Matt said...
"Other - Watching TV or ILLEGALLY Downloading"
To specify "legally" in the poll is hopelessly naive.
I also watched Harold and Maude this weekend (illegally) and found it far from "pretty darn perfect". It's got its moments and I definitely was intrigued by the fake suicide at the beginning, and several other things, but it also didn't do enough to be called "perfect". I'd say an 8/10.
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9-08-2009 @ 11:13AM
Michel Corleone said...
Comedy?
You can say that but its a black deeply emotional comedy wity dramatic ekements..
I 'm from Greece and I know the histrory of the film and how at the 70's the fans reacted when the studio try to kill it.
Its a perfect story from an underrated director.
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