Best black romantic comedy of all time? Hal Ashby tries for something so far-fetched, so absurd and subversive that it will only resonate with a few. Its ambition and aesthetics are reminiscent of Dadaism, while its dandy characters feel like the eccentric successors of Des Esseintes from “A Rebours” by Huysmans (1884). Dark, dead-pan humor along an artistic style & intellectual tone shape its mood - death and simulated suicide constantly hanging over. It never fades into nihilism though. Instead, Harold & Maude can be construed as an inspired parable conveying a simple but authentic philosophy of life, an ode to unbounded love and life freed from social norms & disciplinary institutions.
