A classic tale of Anomie, Alienation and Meaning

Rating: 9/10 (11 February 2001)

This is a wonderful film. Benjamin is a college graduate lost in a venal, empty universe, a "plastic" world. Against this backdrop, Benjamin (literally) drifts, unable to find something that stirs his need for meaning. Director Mike Nichols' visualization of this post-collegiate anomie--Hoffman floating in a pool, virtually catatonic, or waddling helplessly through crowds of gawking adults in awkward scuba gear--are unforgettable, as are Hoffman's and Anne Bancroft's touching performances...Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson, her hardened aggressiveness concealing the hurt of a child, is particularly fantastic. Nichols' takes us along on Benjamin's journey from Mrs. Robinson's burnt-out, cynical embrace to his sudden realization, under the red lights of a seedy strip-club, that some things are still pure and unsullied. In the end, Nichols' direction elevates Benjamin's ensuing struggle to something broader, more profound--we feel Benjamin is fighting not only for the girl he loves, not only against her cynical parents, but for a life with integrity against a bankrupt and wasted society.