“Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me.”

    At many points in a person’s life, they will have to turn back from the path, look upon the horizon and ask themselves, “What now?” Starring at an infinite abyss of life, frightened of both the know and unknown, and sometimes without a single clue of what the first step should be, life can sometimes be confusing at these points. It’s at these points where maybe it’s best to turn to our friends Simon and Garfunkel.

The Graduate is essentially a different form of the counter culture film of the 1960s. Instead of turning to hippies, bikers, and the what not, our main character resists through his refusal to do anything. Apathy is lethal. Mike Nichols’ wild comedy starts a a stare and ends with a stare, the unknown always right around the corner. Thanks to its great performances by Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman, the film has stood the test of time, living both as a product and an inspiration to today’s generation.

We open with the stare of Benjamin Bradock. Ben has just graduated from college out East and is coming home to California for the summer. At his graduation party people ask him what he plans to do now. He doesn’t know. One man offers the answer. "Just one word: plastics, " he tells Ben. But Ben just doesn’t know what he want, until he finds Mrs. Robinson in his room. Mrs. Robinson, played by Anne Bancroft in a sexy and hilarious role, demands a ride home from Ben before attempting to seduce him. At first, Ben resists, but ultimately gives into his desires to have her. But while having the affair, his parents set him up on a couple of dates with another woman: Mrs. Robinson’s daughter Elaine (Katherine Ross). O the agony of confusion!

The key to this script is the alienation and disillusionment of Ben’s character. He truly doesn’t understand what he wants, and neither does anyone around him. He’s stuck between two families, two lovers, and two worlds. Recall the iconic image of Ben fully clothed in scuba gear. What a better image of being cut off from a world that he can’t understand. Ben is forced to refuse apathy and decide something for his life. Not a refusal of the negative, but a refusal of the neutral. Like Luke in the other counter culture classic Cool Hand Luke, his greatest strength is his ability to do anything at all.

Under the direction of Brit Mike Nichols, The Graduate popularized techniques of French New Wave cinema.  With strange close ups, jittery editing, and ambiguous around every corner, Nichols takes what was pretty much a standard Hollywood adaptation, and brought new elements from directors like Godard and Traffaut, making their style popular under what would become the great directors of the 1970s. The style helps initiate the confusion of Benjamin, putting us on the same level of just not knowing what to do.

   

    But besides Nichols, the shoulders of this film rest on Mr. Hoffman and Ms. Bancroft, who deliver convincing performances to make such an absurd script work. Bancroft uses her power as a sexy woman to get what she desires. Her mood is always flat, appearing as the alienated member of the older generation. Under her hilarious deadpan hilarity, is a tragic element to the character of Mrs. Robinson. But the breakout role here was Mr. Hoffman and Ben. Hoffman created a new type of Hollywood star, different from the earlier style of James Stewart and Cary Grant. Instead of charming and witty, Hoffman is shallow and satirical. The Graduate would launch Hoffman into a career of many great performances, making him one of the best of his era.
And of course, who could forget the soundtrack, created by pop stars Simon and Garfunkel. “The Sound of Silence,” “Scarborough Fair,” and “Mrs. Robinson” have becomes classics, and a quick reminder of many of the classic sequences within this film.

Speaking of classic sequences, nothing beats the ending to The Graduate. As our main characters sit in the bus after an absurd escape, the smile from the thrill fades from their faces and they are left starring once again into that infinite abyss of the unknown. This avant-garde ending doesn’t satisfy the story but instead satisfies the audience, connecting to those who truly don’t know what the next chapter in their lives will bring.

The Graduate is a strange comedy that brought cinema to the next step. Director Mike Nichols made a Hollywood film into a groundbreaking comedy with his directorial choices that would pave cinema for years to come. Dustin Hoffman would be realized as the next big movie star, and with a style like no other before him. And hundreds of youth around the world would fall in love with the film that spoke about their anxiety and fears of the next step. The Graduate may not answer the question “what now?” but it surely does help you show that you are not alone when asking it.