Coming-of-age

Rating: 9/10 (26 May 2006)

A film for the jaded, indecisive, angered youth in all of us, 'The Graduate' is as much as a coming-of-age of saga as it is a tale about a young guy's dalliance with an older, married woman.
Dustin Hoffman stars as Ben Braddock, a rather awkward young man who is a little confused about his future after graduating from college with flying colours. Life seems so strange and fruitless to him, so he embarks on an affair with Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft, who wasn't much older than Dustin at the time!) out of desire for experimentation and his need to fulfill his boredom. But he ends up falling for Mrs Robinson's understanding, pretty daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross), who is much close to his age, and the older woman will stop at nothing to ensure the two can't be together.
Ben is the hero of the tale, although he clearly doesn't want to be. When he replies 'You Got Me' to his father's questioning over whether the years of college were really worth it, I feel like standing up and cheering him on.
Hoffman is excellent in the role; his short, gawky yet cute appearance making him a very endearing Ben. His type of actor would never have got a second look in Old Hollywood, so it is a testament to the changing times that such a film as this with such a leading man was made. Bancroft is great too as the seductive, hardened yet fragile Mrs Robinson. She is a very ambiguous character; touching in her loneliness at one minute, exasperating with her cruelty the next. One gets the sense her affair with Ben is an attempt to recapture lost youth as much as it is an avenue for sexual fulfillment. Does she try to keep Elaine away from Ben out of her own selfish motives or is she trying to protect the girl from falling into the same circumstances (marrying young, with a child, to a man she didn't love) as she did? 'The Graduate' provides an interesting character study, indeed.
It also provides an interesting study of the social period that was the 60's, where long-held conventions were broken down and youth found avenues to voice their discontent after many years of confusion and anguish. Also interesting to note that the Plastics industry went through the roof after that little comment to Braddock: 'I've got one word for you, Ben: Plastics'.
This is a very humorous satire, with Hoffman getting many chances for deadpan comedy. You've got to love his reactions to Bancroft in the classic seduction scene- it's very entertaining.
Ross is rather weak in support, I feel a lot more could have been done with her character. This also has some acute problems with pacing throughout, that aren't really rectified in the end. However, many amazing scenes are on show throughout, and the Simon and Garfunkel (a symbol of youth) music is brilliantly used and is justifiably well-remembered. It has that stream-of-consciousness, Salinger feel to it, with Braddock probably being a variation on Holden Caulfield.
9/10.