The opening scene of the Graduate scares me to my very core. We see Benjamin Braddock, the ever brilliant Dustin Hoffman, in his room after he has graduated college, obviously avoiding something. He gets pulled by his parents downstairs to meet a large groups of adults looking to wish him congrats on his award. As a teenager, there is nothing that scares me more then socialites.
Maybe this is the reason that Ben is so attracted to Mrs. Robinson. Compared to the drawl of neighbours and parent's friends, Mrs Robinson is a character straight out of Truffaut's Jules Et Jim. While Truffaut's oblique and oblong camera angles are somewhat an influence on Nichol's style here(but not incredibly), the biggest rip is the destructive Mrs. Robinson very much influenced by Jeanne Moreau's Catherine.
This is not to say that The Graduate feels like a rip off of Jules Et Jim, but the influence is felt. But the colours and style are different. The Graduate's Ben is the real card up the sleeve, a neurotic, strange, yet relatable character. This is not a figurehead for a revolution, nor should it be, but Braddock has a quality to him that sets him apart from the old hero's of Grant and Stewart. He's not heroic. He doesn't know what he's doing. and he's not head strong. He's self lacerating and never sure of himself. The choice he makes will haunt him.
The construction was another part of the film I enjoyed. While I believe Nichol's art direction, his colours aren't great, his unconventional camera angles were great, and I always loved to watch him keep twisting his angles, trying something new. Shots of the reflection of a table showing Mrs. Robinson's entrance to turn up to see the actual image of the duo, the iconic shot of Mrs Robinson putting her tights back on, and the great long POV of Ben in the scuba suit.
And, of course, the soundtrack's pretty good too.
Verdict: What else is there to say about The Graduate? Those socialites still scare me.
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