Seduced by the Allure of "The Graduate"

Rating: 8/10 (3 December 2006)

This film, about an unsure college graduate who gets himself into a complex, beyond-repair situation, is a classic for a reason. It is introspective, unforgiving, and sincere. I admit the first time I saw it I thought it was just about the weirdest, nonsensical film I ever saw, but now, every time I'm in the mood to hear some mellowing Simon and Garfunkel music, it never disappoints. It's a great movie to put on when you feel like thinking and when you don't feel like thinking. The characters, despite their problems, are relatable and sympathetic. The direction is powerful, especially for the time. The soundtrack is perfect on so many levels. And, I have to admit as a sucker for happy endings, it has probably one of the greatest, most realistic last couple of shots in a movie.
Dustin Hoffman plays Benjamin Braddock, a college graduate who comes home to his comfortable, lazy lifestyle after overachieving for four years. He feels pressure from his parents and their well-to-do friends, and at his overwhelming graduation party, he runs into Anne Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson, a bored housewife, the wife of Ben's father's business partner. She gets him back to her house and tells him that if he ever wants to sleep with her, he should feel completely free to. Ben objects, but when his confusion about his future overruns his mangled good judgment, he takes up her offer and they continue to "see" each other for several months, a secret that they conceal quite perfectly. Things start to go sour when Mrs. Robinson's daughter (played by Katharine Ross) is thrown into the mix. Ben takes her on a purposely awful date to appease his parents, but then he discovers that in a time of vagueness and boredom, Elaine Robinson is the only person who really understands him. Once he falls in love, everything unravels.
Everything about this movie is symbolic and cyclical (the beginning and end seem to be parallel, for instance, with the somehow appropriate S&G tune 'The Sound of Silence' playing hauntingly in both scenes, depicting how Ben is just as alone and confused in the end of the film as he was in the beginning). All of the actors are perfect in their roles, stirring sympathy at parts and disdain at others (Bancroft, for example, exudes such vulnerability during her a scene with Hoffman when he insists that they talk before they "leap into bed together" that one cannot help but feel for the seductive, married woman). The music ties it all together, so calming and even eerie that the songs come out like thoughts of the characters, which I believe is how they were intended to be presented. A final thought: as a teenager brought up on the movies of this day and age, I applaud Mike Nichols for this old breath of fresh air. Bravo.