WTF: Harold and Maude (55th Anniversary)

Showroom Cinema is bringing Harold and Maude back to the big screen on Thursday 3 December, a 55th anniversary screening of the 1971 cult classic. It's part of their 'What The F...ilm' (WTF) strand, a twice-monthly series of cult, indie and weird cinema that they describe as aiming to leave minds blown and jaws dropped for film fans and newcomers alike. If you've never seen it, it's a good place to start with the strand.

Directed by Hal Ashby, the film runs an hour and 31 minutes and stars Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort and Vivian Pickles. The story centres on Harold, young, rich and obsessed with death, who meets Maude at a funeral. She's sixty years his senior, and she spends the film encouraging him to live life to the full. The age difference eventually becomes romantic, while Maude's impending 80th birthday threatens to separate them. It's a strange, sweet, and famously eccentric piece of cinema that has kept a devoted following for over five decades.

Seeing it in the cinema is a different experience from watching it at home, and this particular screening marks 55 years since it first came out, so it's a bit of a milestone. It's also one of the more accessible entries in the WTF strand, which usually leans into the weirder end of the scale, so it works as well for a first-timer as it does for someone who's already following the series.

The screening is on Thursday 3 December at 20:00 at Showroom Cinema in Sheffield. It's a mid-week evening slot, and at 91 minutes, you'll be out of there well before midnight.