High society, patriotism, national order, these things are the objects of ridicule in the film. The teenager wrapped in these things is trapped in the nightmare of death, but no one really cares about him. His only hobby is attending other people's funerals. In that absurd world, this hobby is an exit from nothingness and the nightmare of death. It was also at the funeral that he met Maud. Why is Maud an old woman? I think this is the choice to keep the absurdity. If it is a girl or a middle-aged woman, the film will lose its absurdity and fall into the stereotype of soap operas and romance films.
The youth rebellion in the 1960s and 1970s has only been recognized as a subculture. But those young people who call for rights, justice, freedom, peace and love, those who advocate sexual openness, legalization of marijuana, and homeless youth, they are not just subcultures in the eyes of the mainstream. The cognition of subcultures stays at 60 ~70s awareness. Today, the source of what is taken for granted can be traced back to the legacy of those youth. Maud was one of those youths, but she was an anarchist, a certain degree of communism. Constantly pursuing the possibility of life, despising the so-called order, patriotism and private ownership of property, and finally choosing to take medicine and die at the moment when he intends to leave the world. In her, you can't see the nihilism of the upper class, the obedience of the middle class, and the paranoia of the supremacy of the military state. She just lives in good faith, saves a tree considered public property, smokes shisha, collects scent cans, and accepts Harlow's love without hesitation. This sincerity is the sharpest butchering knife, piercing into a world surrounded by hypocrisy and calculation. The people around Harlow have lost the ability to love and be loved, and their understanding of the world has fallen into the circles they have drawn. Only Mudd walked through the circles without hesitation. Walk freely. She evoked Harlow's expectations for life, which did not disappear because of her death. Harlow did not commit suicide, but played the guitar (?) that Maud gave him. He who had never studied music played Murder De's favorite song, maybe he got a new life. That song "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" can really be listened to many times.
This 1971 film is full of mockery of the times, but with its sincerity, are we ready?
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