Movie #: 31 Title: Graduate 1969

Rating: 9.20

Director (last): NICHOLS (first): MIKE

Writer (last): WEBB (first): CHARLES

Deceptively breezy and appealing, this film actually packs a wallop. It was one of the first major films to use a pop music soundtrack (composed by Paul Simon, performed by Simon and Garfunkel). Secondly, it was one of the first genuinely anti-establishment films ever made by Hollywood, though that may not have been intended by its makers. Thirdly, the ending is shockingly, stunningly open- ended. Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) returns home from college with a vaunted degree and no sense of purpose or meaning whatsoever. He hangs around, frustrates his parents, and has an affair with the wife of his father's business partner, Mrs. Robinson. His parents pressure him to date Elaine, Mrs. Robinson s daughter. He finally gives in, reluctantly, only to discover a powerful affinity with the young woman. He decides to end his relationship with Mrs. Robinson and pursue Elaine. This leads to a mad sequence of obstacles, initiated by Mrs. Robinson informing Elaine about the affair. Elaine breaks off the relationship and, pressured by her parents, agrees to marry some shallow pre-med student, but Ben interrupts the wedding, breaks into the church, and drags her off, blocking the exit with a large metal cross. They race away on foot, then jump onto a city bus and make their way to the back seat. Here, one expects, in the Hollywood Tradition, the music to rise to signal happy ever after . Instead, the camera lingers on their faces longer and longer and longer, past the point of comfort. They look at each other sideways, shyly, doubtfully. The implication is clear: their future is uncertain, open, perhaps empty. It is a wonderful, poignant expression of existential doubt. The film completely undermines the values of the establishment , but balks at providing its own clear-cut solutions. It is suggested, yes, the system is corrupt, but what can take its place? Mike Nichols was no revolutionary. I'm sure he thought he had something "hip" on his hands, and maybe an intuitive sensitivity to earth-shaking cultural changes that were taking place in the 1960's. Dustin Hoffman's Benjamin is no hippie. He is just unsure. When a friend of his father's describes the career opportunities in plastics-- a hilarious, twisted scene-- Benjamin is repelled, a response that could not have been depicted ten years earlier. He gives in to Mrs. Robinson, out a kind of aimless lust, but he seems equally repelled by her. It is only when he connects with Elaine, who also feels alienated and disgusted with the world of her parents, that Benjamin comes to life. The ending is a miracle. Why did Nichols choose to leave the camera running, as Benjamin and Elaine shyly, doubtfully look at each other, sitting in the back seat of a city bus. It lingers and lingers. No music rises. No flourish. No satisfied smiles. In the 60's, you would have called it "an existential moment", for they seem to have been plunged into painful self-actualization. They have just moved beyond the mode of responding to forces around them, and, for the first time, have to invent a future for themselves, and the movie leaves you thinking that it's going to be painful.

Is this movie a "gem"? No

Evil Twin: Blue Valentine

Good Twin:

 

Added: 1974-01-01 [yyyy-mm-dd]