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"Madam, I have seen many examples of perversion in my time, but your erotic obsession with your carpet is probably the most grotesque and certainly the most boring I have ever encountered."
Henry Graham (Walter Matthau) is an ageing trust-fund kid who has grown accustomed to a life of luxury but squandered all his savings. Desperate to remain a part of high society, he makes a plan to find a wealthy bachelorette and swiftly ‘get rid' of her, inherit her riches and live happily ever after. He spots his perfect target in Henrietta Lowell (director Elaine May), a socially inept heiress and botanist with no remaining relatives.
A madcap and macabre romantic comedy, Elaine May's directorial debut, A New Leaf, is feminist gold. May, who initially found fame as one half of a comedic duo with fellow filmmaker Mike Nichols, created a film that enjoyed great critical success and remains "a marvel of comic invention" (The New Yorker) today.
"An often brilliant and frequently hilarious comedy." – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
