Harold and Maude

FADE IN:

1INT. THE CHASEN'S DEN - DAY

The CAMERA is at floor level. A young man enters but we

see only his shoes and the cuffs of his pants. We TRACK

with him as he walks across the room and stops at a record

player. Pause. We HEAR a record drop and begin playing

a light classical melody. The SUPERIMPOSED TITLES BEGIN.

After a moment the feet move off and we TRACK with them,

past a low table, and around a couch to the window curtains.

The feet pause there for a moment. A piece of heavy

window cord drops INTO FRAME. We FOLLOW as it is dragged

along to the low table. Then the feet move over to a large

ornate desk. The cord is pulled up OUT OF FRAME. Pause.

The feet walk over to a chair by the wall. It is picked

up, carried to the center of the room, and carefully

placed. Pause. The feet get up onto the chair and the

CAMERA RISES to their level. They shuffle about for a

moment. At an appropriate musical break the CREDITS STOP.

Suddenly the feet knock over the chair and drop into

space. They kick about for a bit, then go slack and still.

The FINAL CREDITS are SUPERED OVER the suspended appendages

while the music comes to a lilting conclusion. As we HEAR

the record player turn itself off, the CAMERA BEGINS a

half circle tour around the hanging feet and stops at the

heels. Pause. Outside we HEAR a woman's footsteps

approaching and we change focus as the door to the den

opens. Through the blurred hanging feet we see a tall,

middle-aged, fashionably dressed woman enter and we PAN

with her as she walks to the desk. This is MRS. CHASEN.

She seems rather tired and preoccupied as she begins to

remove her long white gloves. Slowly the CAMERA BEGINS a

vertical rise up the side of the hanging corpse until we

are watching Mrs. Chasen over his left shoulder. The rope

and his stretched neck frame the right side of the SCREEN.

We hold. Mrs. Chasen puts down her gloves and looks up.

(NOTE:
THE ABOVE IS ALL ONE CONTINUOUS SHOT.)

CUT TO:

2INT. DEN - DAY

CLOSEUP of Mrs. Chasen as she first sees the body. She is

slightly startled.

3INT. DEN - MRS. CHASEN'S POV - DAY

A long shot of the room where HAROLD, a young man of about

twenty, hangs suspended from the ceiling with the curtain

rope tied about his grotesquely broken neck.

4INT. DEN - MEDIUM SHOT - MRS. CHASEN - DAY

She stares at the body for several beats and then with

weary exasperation sits down at the desk and dials the

telephone. As she waits for an answer, she looks up at the

hanging body.

MRS. CHASEN

I suppose you think this is very

funny, Harold.

5CLOSEUP HAROLD

The rope chokes his throat; his eyes bulge; his tongue

hangs out.

6MED. SHOT - MRS. CHASEN

Her party answers and she speaks into the phone.

MRS. CHASEN

Hello. Fay, darling. Be a dear

and cancel my appointment with

Rene this afternoon. Yes, I know

he'll be furious, but I've had

the most trying day, and with

guests coming this evening...

Would you? Oh, that's sweet.

Tell him I promise to be in

Tuesday... for a rinse. Thank

you, Fay. You're a darling. Yes.

Yes. Bye.

She replaces the receiver, stands up, takes her purse and

gloves, and leaves the room, saying:

MRS. CHASEN

Dinner at eight, Harold...

At the door she stops and turns.

MRS. CHASEN

... And try to be a little more

vivacious.

7CLOSEUP HAROLD

Quick cut of his ashen face as we HEAR the door close.

8INT. DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Mrs. Chasen is seated at the head of the table entertaining

eight to ten guests.

They are all in evening clothes and are laughing as Mrs.

Chasen in a dress of white ostrich feathers continues a

witty story.

MRS. CHASEN

Needless to say, the first time it

happened I was absolutely abashed.

I was so shook I needed three

tranquilizers to calm me down.

Well, you can imagine. Suicide

notes all over the house - "Goodbye,"

"Farewell," "Arrivederci." Other

children pretend to run away from

home, but Harold - he's so dramatic.

Everyone laughs. The CAMERA BEGINS PULLING BACK and

PANNING past the guests till we come to Harold sitting

morosely at the other end of the table. He listlessly toys

with his food as his mother continues.

MRS. CHASEN

Of course, Harold's father had a

similar sense of the absurd. I

remember once in Paris he stepped

out for cigarettes and the next I

hear he's arrested for floating

nude down the Seine - experimenting

in river currents with a pair of

yellow rubber water wings. Well,

that cost quite a little bit of

"enfluence" and "d'argent" to

hush up, I can tell you. Harold,

dear, stop playing with your food.

Don't you feel well?

HAROLD:

(looks up and

pauses)

I have a sore throat.

MRS. CHASEN

Well, I want you to go to bed

directly after dinner. You know

how susceptible you are to colds.

Harold has always been a delicate

child. Even as a baby he seemed

to be abnormally prone to illness

- Harold, dear, eat up your beets...

9CLOSEUP - HAROLD

He begins eating as his mother goes on.

MRS. CHASEN (o.s.)

I remember when we were in Tokyo

I had to call my brother Victor

at the embassy for a doctor. He

was serving there as Army attach�...

FADE OUT.

FADE IN:

10INT. MRS. CHASEN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Mrs. Chasen sitting before her vanity table, humming to

herself as she readies herself for bed. She wears a night-

gown, a cover for her hair, and she has just finished

putting on several different face creams. She gets up,

walks over to the bathroom, and opens the door. Blood is

everywhere -- on the walls, the floor, the mirror - and in

the tub is Harold, his throat slit and his wrists dripping

blood onto the razor on the tile floor. The effect is one

of instant shock. Mrs. Chasen screams and backs up in

horror. Sobbing hysterically, she clutches her robe about

her and rushes from the room crying.

MRS. CHASEN

Oh! No! Oh! No! I can't stand

it. My God! This is too much.

This is too much to bear!...

The CAMERA WATCHES Mrs. Chasen run off and then swings back

to Harold in the tub.

11CLOSEUP - HAROLD

We hold on his wretched face as his mother's hysterical

cries are heard in the background. Harold moves his head

and listens. He breaks into a sly, satisfied grin.

12INT. PSYCHIATRIST'S OFFICE - DAY

Harold is lying on a couch, perfectly relaxed. The

PSYCHIATRIST, less so, is seated by him.

PSYCHIATRIST:

Tell me, Harold, how many of

these, eh, suicides have you

performed?

HAROLD:

(pause)

An accurate number would be

difficult to gauge.

PSYCHIATRIST:

And why is that?

HAROLD:

Well, some worked out better than

others - some had to be abandoned

in the planning stages - do you

include the first time? - then

there's the question of maiming...

PSYCHIATRIST:

Just give me a rough estimate.

HAROLD:

Well, a rough estimate... I'd say

fifteen.

PSYCHIATRIST:

Fifteen.

HAROLD:

A rough estimate.

PSYCHIATRIST:

And were they all done for your

mother's benefit?

HAROLD:

(thoughtful pause)

I wouldn't say "benefit."

PSYCHIATRIST:

No, I suppose not. How do you

feel about your mother?

13INSERT - STOCK

A giant steel ball on a demolition crane crashes into a

brick wall collapsing it with much noise and dust.

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