And here's to you...

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2008)

The Graduate is a film which has so much going for it. It's wonderfully written...witty when it has to be, smart throughout. It's beautifully photographed with director Mike Nichols framing so many scenes in the perfect manner to best tell his story. It's a film with some wonderful acting performances, most notably by the two leads, Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, with Bancroft creating one of the most memorable characters in film history. Yes indeed, here's to you Mrs. Robinson. It's a film set in a very specific time and place, late 1960s upper middle class Californian suburbia. The values of that time and place are so very important to the story yet the film still holds up wonderfully four decades later.
As the film opens we meet young Benjamin Braddock, played by Hoffman, who has just graduated college and is now returning home to figure out what he wants to do with his life. He'd like a little time to think about his future but his family, and pretty much everyone else around him, has other ideas. They want to know what this bright young man is going to do with himself and they want to know now. Feeling rather trapped by everyone else's expectations of what he should be Benjamin rebels in a rather unique way...having an affair with the wife of his father's business partner. Seems Mrs. Robinson is feeling a little trapped in her life as well. So the two engage in a summer-long affair. But to call this a romance would be inaccurate. These two barely speak to one another, there's no emotion involved. This is a purely physical relationship. But eventually there will be a dramatic turn. Pretty much forced into it by his parents Benjamin very reluctantly takes Mrs. Robinson's daughter on a date. Suffice to say Mrs. Robinson does not approve. When Benjamin comes to realize he'd much rather be with the daughter than the mother emotions boil over and the film begins to move in an all new direction, building to a classic conclusion.
The Graduate is not a perfect film. It takes a little while to really get going as we establish just who Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson are and what drives them to have their affair. It's certainly important to learn about these characters' motivations but it is not until the affair actually begins that the story really takes off. And what a fascinating story it is and it's performed brilliantly. In his first major film role Hoffman seems rather awkward at times, especially in the film's beginning. But his awkwardness fits the character perfectly especially in the initial seduction scene where Benjamin is quite obviously way out of his league. But who wouldn't be out of his league when faced with Mrs. Robinson? Bancroft does a wonderful job of bringing this very unique character to life, hitting all the right emotional notes throughout. And there are certainly plenty of different emotions on display. While Hoffman and Bancroft carry the film there are other important performances as well, most notably by Katharine Ross in the pivotal role of Mrs. Robinson's daughter, Elaine. Ross doesn't have nearly the screen time of the two leads. In fact for a character so important to the story we barely get to know Elaine at all which is a minor quibble with the film. But Ross makes the best of what she has to work with, one moment in particular standing out as she does a split-second emotional 180, instantly going from giddy happiness to something else entirely. Well done.
The Graduate is a great film. The story is captivating and the actors have done a marvelous job with it. The Simon and Garfunkel songs which provide the soundtrack are a terrific addition to the film as they fit in perfectly with what is happening on the screen. All in all this is a film to be treasured and enjoyed again and again.