Depressed by life, and rejected by his wealthy mother (Vivian Pickles), teenager Harold (Bud Cort) is fascinated by death, drives a hearse and gatecrashes funerals for fun. It's at a graveyard that he meets 79-year-old free spirit Maude (Ruth Gordon), and the pair then embark on an unlikely relationship. You could call it bad taste, but rarely has such a strange love affair been presented so charmingly as in this cult classic from director Hal Ashby (Being There). The performances of the wonderfully poker-faced Cort and the irrepressible Gordon make the central premise - that love can blossom at any age - believable and moving, in a movie that, for all its eccentricities, likes people. The memorable soundtrack by Cat Stevens is an added delight.

The young Harold lives in his own world of suicide-attempts and funeral visits to avoid the misery of his current family and home environment. Harold meets an 80-year-old woman named Maude who also lives in her own world yet one in which she is having the time of her life. When the two opposites meet they realize that their differences don’t matter and they become best friends and love each other.