It's Been 41 Years And This Classic Still Feels Refreshing

Rating: Null/10 (25 July 2008)

When the film opens with a depressed Dustin Hoffman seated in a plane and then standing on the moving sidewalk as the camera follows him, I immediately recognized a lot of myself. Then there's a sequence that shortly follows at a party where Hoffman's Benjamin is bored to death. He doesn't fit in with this crowd of people from an older generation. He just wants to get out. This is exactly how I felt at parties of my parents and their friends. The 60's is a crucial time period in American history. A time that brought and saw many changes. After watching 'The Graduate', I just wondered what it would have been like if I were a 20-year-old in the late 60s.
Mike Nichols, with the help of Simon and Garfunkel's everlasting music, excellently displays the characters' inner turmoil. He lets the actors convey that through their non-verbal expressions and Simon and Harfunkel's songs wonderfully give voice to their silence. 'The Graduate' is one of the best examples of how effectively a soundtrack is used in a motion picture. The music is sometimes whimsical giving a gentle comic touch to the tense moments. The music is sometimes calm and quiet with only a flute playing, a man whistling or the simple sound of a guitar, so that it contributes to the mood rather than interfere.
'The Graduate' is a film of few words. It has some great lines but, as I stated earlier, Nichols relies on the silence more than the words. He makes fine use of close-ups, quick cuts and long shots. Notice, the 'noisiest' moments in the film were the party scenes and Benjamin's birthday. The dialogues delivered by the actors are simple but what makes them outstanding and memorable is the way they were delivered. Who else, other than Dustin Hoffman could have made a line like 'Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me.' laugh out loud funny? Moreover, Nichols also makes clever and funny use of symbolism. Note the scene where Hoffman is in a diving suit and we hear him struggling to breath, feeling closed and somewhat smothered in that suit and once he's in the pool he tries to find his way and then just stands there, under the open water in a moment's quietness away from his parents's conventional 'boring' lifestyle. But even with the underlying serious themes, 'The Graduate' is essentially a comedy.
I can't picture anyone else in the part of Benjamin Braddock. Obviously the role was meant for Hoffman. Apparently Robert Redford was the first choice but I think Hoffman's performance just makes Braddock easier to relate to. He is sublime and he portrays the transformation and growth so naturally. Likewise, Mrs. Robinson was only for Anne Bancroft. The actress has a strong presence. She's sexy, classy and dominating but Mrs. Robinson does have a vulnerable side which Bancroft beautifully conveys. Katherine Ross is very beautiful and vivacious as Elaine.
After 41 years since its theatrical release, I just watched it today and it felt so refreshing. I loved how it ended. The ending is a fine contrast to the beginning. The same music plays but here we see a happy Benjamin and Elaine heading towards their unknown future compared to the beginning where Ben's worried about the future. An immortal classic.