The Graduate

Silent Kiss

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Quite interestingly, fitting into contemporary society after graduation could be as difficult in the '60s as it always can be when a casual civilization confronts you via its strict, solid roles and unavoidable engagements that claim immense potential out of you, yet do not guarantee loads of money, inherent success and/or beautiful women/men/pets - take your pick - for you. Especially not if you lack the "IT" factor, a quotient which is kind of new to me, one which invites me to wonder if Louise Brooks has anything else than IT. Not all though IS Brooksie, especially not Benjamin Braddock, protagonist of this here stable classic The Graduate.

As for the setting, that veeeeery vicious world out there which is the veeeeery proper and ideal way for the pessimist to find her/his justification intact, probably is a result of the steep competition that characterizes this here cited, consensus outside scenario: a rather persistent phenomena that collapses on your everyday average graduate, - oxymoron? - Benjamin Braddock, personified by Dustin "Just Follow Me Nose And You Will Always Find Me, Young Padawan!" Hoffman. We all do know that women are social geniuses when compared to the average man, yet, surely, you may choose to be a male schovinist and make me hope that you'll have your butt ruthlessly assaulted by hostile alien lifeforms.

The Graduate tells the tale of a rather confused young man and an acquaintance of pure - hah! - feminine qualities, delivered by Anne Bancroft. Amazingly, the supersolid stance in society which is possessed by her lefts this lady to immense boredom, a state that only radical outside stimulus seems to offer fruity escape routes from. Thus, all those roads do lead to The Graduate, as The Graduate himself is afraid to take any - and this is the pure motivation that gains the interest of the well situated lady. Well situated ladies though may possess daughters, individuals their lovers might fall in love with. Let us observe the totally, implicitly innocent question if Hoffman IS subjected to such - "dangers".



Though the movie takes us all the way back to 1967, it is interesting to see how things remained relatively unchanged since then: people consume drinks, deliver jokes, do radiate their personalities to highly benefit their immediate surroundings, et cetera. Not much, if anything of this catches the interest of the young Hoffman - he weighs 30 years in the output - though, yet, the fact that he is blatantly uninterested in social affairs and can't help but worry about the strait prospects that do seem to characterize his future is a superb kickstart to unconsciously resonate with Mrs. Robinson's very own, very private, and very solid boredom concerning the conditions people should feel excited of- and about.

Mrs. Robinson possesses everything a woman is initially longing for, thus, you meet her by the time when she is absolutely uninterested in them, having her senses and corresponding reality tunnel thoroughly stimulated by the zillion consensus pleasures already. The funny thing is this: Mrs. Robinson has everything that Benjamin should try to create on his own, thus proving his worth in front of society, yet this demanding circumstance leaves a highly anxious and frustrated young man to live up to this challenge, though his helplessness catches the interest of the attractive lady even more than the Bourbon Bottle does - and THIS is something to state, considering that Mrs. Robinson is an alcoholic.

The most hilarious peek moments of this output are the seduction scenes, no doubt. Mrs. Robinson is an experienced lady, one who is 111% aware of the nifty tricks a woman could and should rely on to seduce any male she wishes to. I would keenly draw your attention to the

"Could you bring up my purse before you go?"

scene of the movie, that one is a true classic which radiates the delicate, yet quite stable assumption that whenever a woman asks you this: then she wants something from you, you can bet your purse on it.



Based on Charles Webb's book, Mike Nichol's adaptation gives you a quite robust character transformation through Hoffman's excellent performance. This here initially confused- and virtually hopeless figure gains some kind of strong, yet not-at-all explicitly emphasized emotional support through his affair with the lady: he has not much against the fact that Mrs. Robinson uses him but as a tool to attain sexual gratification, the mere fact that he is able to satisfy the woman's bodily urges does give him considerable confidence and a strange form of inner peace and inherent harmony. A state which delivers something to look forward to - indeed, these moments are the secretive encounters they collide by on a daily basis.

This transformation is quite well presented, thus registers as a rather believable one. By the start period, Benjamin seems and acts as an improbably clueless individual with "well" developed issues concerning his social skills included - intact. The secretive affair he takes his share in is a very strict, easily approachable method of escapism for him that takes his attention away from an outside world which still demands high and rigorous standards to offer its blessings. Mrs. Robinson is an illegal commodity in numerous ways: firstly, she poses as one of the "blessings" the young man "might" go for when he already prove himself, yet the fact that the woman shows interest regardless of Ben's current incapacity to shine in society is but another aspect to spice their twisted relation up. Their affair is but an act of antagonizing the rules society poses for its participants, and, both of them being intellectually qualified to recognize this, they truly do not have other stuff to concern about than to satisfy each other properly, thoroughly.



A very subtle scene is offered when Benjamin would prefer to engage in some conversation with Mrs. Robinson, though his intention hardly finds any resonance. It might seem that the sequence suggests the woman to be a bitter being, yet, in this very sober reality, she simply have been there already, seen it already, and done that already. She prefers to gain stimulus on the radical register from now on, and, frankly speaking, when two people of he different/same gender do resonate harmonically with each other for a short/long period of time AND even feel deep sympathy for each other: then those "radical" means to gain radical pleasures do indeed have a tendency to follow up these pleasant intellectual encounters, don't know if you ever noticed that. Being already at the field where these pleasures are gained and served: Mrs. Robinson truly could not care less about what Ben does or does not think about fine arts, cinema and baseball.

Tell you what: I think these are the aspects that The Graduate truly does shine with, and I do not find its climax portion as suggestive or interesting as its subtle base assumptions are. Daughter of Mrs. Robinson and Co., Elaine - Katharine Ross - is abruptly introduced into the mix, and Ben falls in love with her. From this particular point on, Mrs. Robinson is but a cruel, ruthless nemesis, especially after the point when Elaine gains information about the affair Ben had with her mother. Yes, it sounds rather cool to fuel a casual family drama: but The Graduate easily weighs more than those with its start period, nevertheless choosing to deliver a tiresomely thorough and relatively trite conclusion period characterized by Ben's urge to acquire the love of Elaine.



- Whaaat?? TRITE conclusion??

You will have three, if not four sequences where you can see Dustin driving after his beloved in his roofless duster. This is some epic stuff, and here is why: Dustin's hair is influenced by the wind! His nose travels through air like Superman! And his expression is very determined, too! To top this, imagine the second sequence of these driving periods: in that particular portion, you will see Dustin driving after his beloved in his roofless duster. This is some epic stuff, and here is why: Dustin's hair is influenced by the wind! His nose travels through air like Superman! And his expression is very determined, too!

Director Mike Nichols chose strong musical support, utilizing Simon and Garfunkel tunes. Well, in my opinion, this music is very expressive, subtle and quite delicate for a major chunk of time. It does remain absolutely good after some MORE time. After doubling this session, though - I tend to notice that Simon and Garfunkel must have had cause me to left my mouth open and I surely would need 16 tons of towel to get rid of the saliva I accidentally poured off from it during the process. Simply put: Nichols OVERKILLS Simon and Garfunkel, period. You will WHIIIINE like a cat at its first occasion when you supposed to feel through the Sound of Silence - though for the 237432387th occasion.

These are though but my personal, thus: subjective rantings about the elements I find to degrade this classic a bit in case you compare these narrative redundancies to the massive basic statements the move starts off with and primarily builds on. The Graduate remains a massive classic nevertheless, yet comes short of the fifth onion with its relatively lightweight second chunk and the immensely inept conclusion it leads to. I suppose it should register as funny, hilarious and cute - yet failing utterly to convince me of these great qualities. The monkeys were timeless classics, though. You know why? Easy: they ALWAYS are.



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