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My feelings for this little article began with an unquenchable lust, bloomed into immense admiration, settled into a cozy tolerance then plunged into sickening despair. The first half is overflowing with infectious energy and clever camera tricks and despite my indifference towards Dusty Halfman, I was practically swooning. Then what happened? Oh, the paper-thin plot, hum-drum dialogue, unbelievable ending, & SIMON and GARFUNKEL. If I hear that song one more time I will press tacks to my obliging eyes (or should that be nails to ears?). Heard it six more times. The direction the film took, I disagree so emphatically. Was it an atonement for the debauchies of the first? I felt used, like Dusty when the succubus sucks him. First half 10+, second half was forgettable to me.

Mike Nichols directs this coming-of-age film, or rather a graduating-college-what-the-fuck-do-I-do-now story, either way we see Dustin Hoffman growing up and becoming a man. Some films from the late 60’s haven’t aged to well, such as Easy Rider (not to say that Easy Rider is a bad film, it’s just dated) but I think The Graduate has aged perfectly and is still fresh after forty-two years. This is the first time I’ve seen this film and life makes so much more sense now (that church was in Wayne’s World! I get the joke now!).

What I truly admire about this film is the character development of Ben. I’m not going to lie, at the beginning of the film Ben really annoyed me and I didn’t really like him at all. However, this all changed before the half way point, and even though he’s blunt and still kind of annoying, I was rooting for him the entire way. If there’s one thing that I will always remember about this film it’s the shot of Ben underwater in the scuba diver outfit, just standing on the bottom of the pool as the camera pulls away from him and he slowly starts to vanish in the surrounding water.

More on this later . . .

Very sexy and at the same time awkward. The humor comes out more and more with repeated viewing. At least it did for me. Now that I’m done with school that feeling of just floating aimlessly in a pool or just sitting motionless under the surface is truly a scary thing to face in ones future. Sowing wild oats is just a distraction, but when considering what one will do for the rest of one’s life, I feel that today as much as then many feel direction-less.

(Originally written April 28, 2006)

Goethe once said that great art is “representative and unrepresentative of its time.” Every now and then, a film comes along and changes the scope of the art in the country. This film could either define the social climate of the era or push the boundaries of what is acceptable. It could reinvent the understanding of a particular genre or transcend categorization. In the end, this piece of art may also be able to challenge the decadence it seems to celebrate. A film that does all these things is the 1967 masterpiece The Graduate.

This film is important because of the effect it still has on viewers today. The brilliant technique and composition help to compliment the story, illustrating the suffocation experienced in a society bound by conformity. The camera provides the audience a chance to both observe the main character’s isolation in the world and also present the world through his eyes, stale and confused. The editing is flawless as each moment in Benjamin’s life is shown to be part of a meaningless existence. It is a tale of love that questions if true love really exists as people attempt to satisfy their desires or find some type of direction or comfort. Jealousy is confronted as a serious topic that drives the characters to the sick and hurtful things they do. The film’s use of music has defined the modern soundtrack, using music that fits the film’s mood of restlessness. Dustin Hoffman’s acting shows him to be an actor of impeccable skill even at such a young age. Every movement of the eyes and tone of voice is calculated to add to the nervousness of the directionless young man he plays. The film’s script is perhaps the funniest ever written for the silver screen. It is wisely crafted with little nuisances that ultimately bring the different parts of the film together. The film drips in sarcasm and dramatic irony that takes the script to a higher level of craft and understanding of the language of film.

Then there’s the ending, one of the most memorable in all of American film. After rising from the smoke of the climax, the ambiguous closing shots of the film question whether or not The Graduate is the triumphant story of breaking away from oppression that it is sometimes made out to be. This film necessitates multiple viewings, but one will eventually be breathless in response to the genius of this work.

Great film, a really good use of the medium at times and a very tight, focused effort. Evidence that it doesn’t matter what you make a film about but how you make it. It could have been a completely shallow, boring story but Nichols makes it about all of use, at all times and with examples of perfect cinema art within. According to an interview in the NY Times Nichols and his team spent one month alone thinking about the montage/flashback sequence. That work, time and attention to detail shows in the final result. May have aged in certain ways but that is probably true of yourself as well…

What seems to be the ultimate teenage angst story, The Graduate is a film that fully understands what it is to be wondering about what follows after prom: the fear of becoming an adult. Benjamin Braddock’s concerns about whatever is on his mind when he arrives to his homecoming party are soothed by Mrs. Robisnon, a woman who will teach him the benefits of leaving childhood behind, but this short-lived, sexual-based relationship will change as he falls for his “teacher’s” daughter.

In the end, the film is all about teenage-becoming-adulthood concerns which seem solved after a few actions, but are only found to be replaced by worse. The script is wildly funny as the clumsy protagonist turns his droopy self into a man who just finds out he isn’t grown-up enough with every mistake he makes. The acting is superb, and of course the directing is a tour de force along with the magnificent soundtrack, editing and photography.

Although its morality and costumes may seem old-fashioned now, it only requires the viewer to imagine he’s in 1967 to enjoy this wonderful trip.

The danish author Klaus Rfibjerg wrote a novel called “Den Kroniske Uskyld” (The Chronic Innocence). In short, the novel is about Janus, a collegeboy, who sees his classmates and couple Tore and Helle as the perfect couple and wants a relationship like theirs. So much, that Janus constructs his own relationship based on Tore and Helles relationship. But Tore and Helles relationship is platonic and without sex, and on graduation day, Helles mom seduces Tore and Helle commits suicide. Janus is left on his own and must rebuild his shattered identity.

The funny thing is that the novel was written just nine years before this movie came out. Wonder if Mike Nichols knew the novel?