The Graduate: Entering the real world with a bang…sort of
Apologies for the protracted delay from posting that our other contributors have more than made up for. I will return to the fold with a series of reviews of films and music that have some connection to the theme of graduation, the event that has occupied my time recently.
Rating: 2.5 stars (out of 4)
The Graduate was recommended to me as a classic American film for years, having launched the career of Dustin Hoffman and (supposedly) portrayed the plight of an endless number of post-collegiate guys. Thus, I was quite surprised to learn that it’s not about much more than a kid who has an affair with the mother of the girl his parents want him to date. That sums up a large part of its appeal…and limitations: it is an unusual and often wonderfully funny story, but inconsistent and not nearly as dramatic as I half-expected when playing it.
After an opening scene to which Garden State paid homage, The Graduate starts with Ben Braddock (Hoffman) sleepwalking his way through his own post-grad, welcome-home party. Desperately seeking relief from the endless parade of, you know, grown-ups, he hides out in his room, only to be found by Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), a family friend who needs a ride home. Ben, in his fidgety, klutzy manner, tries to impress upon Mrs. Robinson the foolishness of such an idea, but she insists.
The following scenes at Mrs. Robinson’s house are some of the most famous in movie history, and they bring out the best in The Graduate. Everything Mrs. Robinson requests sounds so innocent, unless you place it in context of everything else. Hoffman’s pitch-perfect approach to the material makes Ben immensely likable without being remarkable in any way; he’s sharper than he projects, but he can’t find the right words or actions to counter Mrs. Robinson’s advances. When Ben discovers that Mr. Robinson is due home shortly, the scene takes on almost a Shakespearean element of humor, and I applaud the movie for not ruining it by having Mr. Robinson catch Ben.
It was about the point where Ben decided to meet Mrs. Robinson at a hotel that I realized the movie was not going to ever strive for the dramatic setting I anticipated. That isn’t to say it’s superficial, just that its primary purpose is always to make you laugh. And it does that well…in spurts, particularly at the scenes at the hotel where Ben plans his trysts. As he stammers his way through his room request, tries to explain why he has no luggage, or calls Mrs. Robinson from across the lobby, you want to feel sorry for the guy, even though he’s about to do something that would make American Pie-era teenagers tremendously jealous.
He wants to talk about deeper meaning, but she stays clammed up—a dynamic that, given their entrenchment in their positions and the minor difficulty we have in believing that he would want a conversation, grows tiresome. When they finally do consummate their relationship, he’s really in trouble, because his parents are trying to set him up with…Mrs. Robinson’s daughter Elaine.
After those two start going out, it’s obvious that she’ll find out about her mother. But even before then, their interactions are awkward; I’m not sure I see the meaning of Ben taking her out to a show with girls dancing provocatively, or why they kiss for the first time after she runs out. Here, Ben’s lack of social skills makes it hard to accept the attraction. Mrs. Robinson’s could be chalked up to boredom—with her marriage or life in general—but there is no such explanation here, and this time we need one.
Ben decides one night to bring her to the same hotel where he brought her mother (what is this guy thinking?) and there is a hilarious moment when everyone there recognizes him and addresses him by the name he had previously provided to them. Given his ineptitude, you know what’s coming, and when the truth comes out, Elaine dumps Ben, and for good measure, the Robinsons leave town—though not before Mrs. Robinson can tell him to stay away from her daughter. Towards the end, the movie gets not only even more implausible but also a bit muddled. It’s understandable, for example, that Mr. Robinson would be so furious at Ben, but his wife’s feigned anger rings hollow. Likewise, the ending feels rushed and inconclusive, with moments like the attempted strangulation and Christ-like posing jolting the tone in scatterbrained directions.
The most enduring image of the movie for me is not the famous line “Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?” but rather the unforgettable shot of Ben sulking around in the enormous wet suit his parents make him wear for a pool party. The imagery of an isolated and misunderstood young man, breathing Darth Vader-like from the inside of the suit, staring out dimly through the foggy eye holes as he does someone else’s bidding, is unmistakable. That’s where the strength of The Graduate lies, but it’s also where it fails to extend itself. I would have rather it played off this idea more strongly, but the film is still worth watching, if primarily for the cultural context and humor. And let me just say that if my parents want to set me up with someone who looks like Katherine Ross now that I’m out of college, things will not be nearly this complicated.
May 26th, 2010 at 9:16 am
A large reason this film has gone down as a classic is because it was embraced as a metaphor for the growing cultural rift between the baby boomers and their parents, and it was largely critical of the older group for not being in touch with what it really meant to be alive. The relationship between it and Garden State run deeper than visual allusions (in fact, I think a thematic comparison of the two would be a really interesting post for this site). I think The Graduate has lost much of the relevance 33 years later because the specific generational gap it commentated on has long come and pass. But I also think the movie retains some of its poignancy as a depiction of the more general idea of trying to fit into the adult world. And, I agree, it has a good amount of laughs in it in spite of some character and plot absurdities.
May 26th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Oh I agree the similarities w/ Garden State are deeper than visual…I probably implied that more than I actually meant…but I still think its overrated
May 27th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Yeah I agree. I think a lot of its poignancy came just from cultural context of being released in 1967, something that’s been lost in time. For me it’s probably 3 stars.
May 26th, 2010 at 9:48 am
43 years*