Movie Review: The Graduate
Mike Nichols made a truly wonderful and completely unconventional film when he made
The Graduate. He took so many risks, and cast a fairly unknown actor to star in this story of a young man with a bright future ahead of him who isn't really sure what it is he wants.
Dustin Hoffman plays Benjamin Braddock, a smart young man who really doesn't seem comfortable with himself or the world around him. In fact, he seems to isolate himself from the world around him. He is trapped. Nichols shows us, through many wonderful camera shots, just how trapped Benjamin feels. There is a scene, which might just be one of my favorite scenes in a film, where Benjamin is standing at the bottom of the pool. You can faintly hear voices of those standing around the pool, but mostly just hear him breathing through his new scuba gear. The camera pulls away to see Benjamin standing all alone in the vast pool. He seems vulnerable and scared and trapped in a life he doesn't really like.
Benjamin starts to have an affair with one of his parent's friends, Mrs. Robinson (played pitch perfectly by
Anne Bancroft). Mrs. Robinson is what Benjamin is not. She knows what she wants, and she gets what she wants. She is confident while he is unsure of himself. It is their affair which brings forth changes in both characters. Benjamin becomes more swaggering. Mrs. Robinson shows her flaws too. She has been through rough spots, but she has managed to hide them in her seemingly perfect exterior.
However, Mrs. Robinson shows her truly jealous and evil side when Benjamin starts dating her daughter, Elaine. Mrs. Robinson vows she will punish Benjamin for leaving her, and she does get back at him.
The thing about
The Graduate that stands out is just how unconventional the film is. For example, there is a scene in which Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson have a major conversation about themselves and their relationship that occurs in the dark with the exception of a crack of light coming in through the window. The scene cuts us off from them. We can hear them. We can hear their anxieties and their problems, but we can only hear them because of the dark. But this darkness speaks of the characters. Mrs. Robinson hides her past in the darkness and Benjamin hides his present in the darkness. They are both hiding. They are hiding from themselves and from us, the viewers.
Also there are scenes, like the pool scene, in which dialogue only exists as background noise. We aren't supposed to care about what Benjamin's parents are saying to him while he is the pool. What we care about is the state of Benjamin.
The soundtrack to
The Graduate is probably one of the very best soundtracks ever made for a film. The Simon and Garfunkel tracks fit with the mood of the movie. "The Sound of Silence" is used many times throughout the film, and it should be. So much of what happens relates to "people talking without speaking, people listening without hearing." Benjamin talks to us with his face. He doesn't have to vocalize his thoughts and feelings because his acting is so good. That is probably why he went on to become one of the biggest actors out there.
The Graduate still seems relevant and timeless despite the fact that it is almost 40 years old. Even though the film takes place in the 60s, it doesn’t speak of politics or of the scene of those years. Instead it speaks of people. People who make mistakes. People who are unsure of themselves. The film works because of its story, its characters, its actors, and its directing. Sometimes unconventional is the most conventional way to tell a story. It certainly is the case for
The Graduate.
