Director: Mike Nichols
Year: 1967
Country: U.S
Language: English
"Mrs.Robinson, you're trying to seduce me" The Graduate is the first 60's film I saw growing up. The first time I watched it I really didn't like it, infact I was a bit confused by it. Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) decides he loves Mrs.Robinson's daughter (Katherine Ross) after going out on one date? I decided to watch the film a few more times. I fell in love with it then increasingly disliked it. For a film about the generation gap and the adolescent life crisis, it has the potential to be something great, but it fails miserably.
Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) is a recent college Graduate who returns to an ambitious upper-middle class Californian community and is surrounded by adults who think they know what's best for young Benjamin. "Plastics" his dad's business partner tell him, ignoring the fact that Benjamin likely couldn't care less. His parents and their friends are all career orientated, "what are you planning for your future?" Benjamin doesn't have an answer because that's a difficult question. He needs some time to think it over, it's all he wants to do... think. He soon is seduced by the lovely Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), his dad's business partner's wife who seems not to feel lustful for him, but sees their affair as a kind deed. She is helping him break out of his shell and become a man.
The first half of the film is sheer brilliance. It consists of ingenius shots that act as a window into the soul of a confused teenager. The comedy is hilarious, especially the scenes when Benjamin is trying to meet Robinson in a hotel. He doesn't need to act suspicious, the hotel employees don't really care or know that he is with an older woman, yet he does, phoning Robinson from a phone booth or sneakily going off to his hotel room. The generation gap is apparent as he doesn't seem to connect with any adult, nor can they connect with him. The divide harms Benjamin as he feels his parents only exist to question his existence and bark orders. They don't understand why their son can't decide and therefore are powerless to help him.
The second half of the film is a lazily written mess. He goes on one date, a very bad date mind you, with Mrs.Robinson's daughter and somehow falls in love with her. Perhaps this is part of Benjamin's confused character but why? He comes off as either an immature idiot who has made no progress whatsoever or a creep. The film tries to make Mrs.Robinson a villain when she says something along the lines of "If you continue dating her, I'll tell her about our affair" which isn't that bad of her to say. It isn't blackmail, rather it's Robinson stepping up and acting like a good parent. I wouldn't want a man like Benjamin Braddock dating my daughter either. He acts as if he had no choice in their affair, like he had been tricked, but this only makes Braddock more like a child. Adults accept responsibility for their actions. This changes my view of Braddock in the first half of the film, maybe he's just a spoiled kid who does reckless things without any thought/care of consequences. When he tells his parents that he's going to propose to Elaine, even though she hates him, his parent's reaction is the same as mine. What? How does that make any sense?? When Elaine forgives him for having an affair with her mom I'm even more baffled. This man helped in ruining your family!
The Graduate is known for it's soundtrack by Simon and Garfunkle. While I like the music, besides "Mrs.Robinson" I don't understand why the songs are in the film. How do they relate to the characters? How do they relate to the story? While they are quite good on their own, I think too many people mistake "good music" for "good movie" I'm also surprised at the lack of 60's culture in this film. It's 1967 The Beatles are on top of the world, flower power is reaching millions and this film has none of that. A film that tries to be about the generation gap there is little of the 60's generation in this film. Benjamin Braddock is either an alien to his own generation or Director Mike Nichols knows nothing about the younger generation.
In conclusion, The Graduate starts on a high note. As I said, the first half (maybe the first 20-30 minutes) is well made but eventually it fails miserably as a film about the adolescent life crisis. Lena Dunham's 2010 debut feature Tiny Furniture has more intelligent things to say about the generation gap than this. Surprisingly Lena Dunham's character in Tiny Furniture, known for being a whiny hipster, is also more tolerable than Benjamin Braddock. Here's to you Mrs.Robinson, the only interesting person in this tired "60's" film. I'm not sure why it's loved today, perhaps because the young people who love it have little knowledge about that era. Piss on it! 2/5
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