What's wrong with living past 80?
I first saw this film over a decade ago and since then have been praising it to everyone I meet. However, I just watched it for the second time last night, and I'm starting to wonder if its as great of a film as I thought.
The part that really bugged me is this: I can't understand why Maude is so against living past 80. She says that the man at the funeral who died at 85 had lived too long.
Then, she, who claims to love life so much, ends it. Perhaps that's part of the message: that suicide is usually committed by people who are repulsed by life. Maude on the other hand truly loves life and yet opts out. Why?
I find it very cowardly and pretty short-sighted that for someone who claims to cherish life so much, she didn't at least try to experience the admittedly daunting but no less essential part of our life: bodily decay and death. She is still so vibrant and full of life in this film. Was she afraid to see what being immobile or even being in pain would feel like? Aren't both pain and pleasure crucial parts of life?
Perhaps she thought that she had seen enough pain in the Nazi concentration camps and believed that she was entitled to choose her time to go. She may have also, having seen so many others die at the hands of men, decided that it would be a rather empowering gesture to be able to control her own death.
I'm at a loss. I'm losing some of the faith that I had in Maude's suicide when I first saw the film. Thoughts?