The Graduate (1967)
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 105m
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, Murray Hamilton
Synopsis:
Upon returning from college Benjamin Braddock is despondent about his future and allows himself to be led into an affair with the wife of his father's partner; unhappily, he then falls for the daughter.
Review:
An enormously successful film on its release because it tapped into the concerns of the younger generation in a style that appealed. The disorienting mise en scène (overlapping sound, changes of perspective) and the carefully judged gaucheness of Hoffman's Ben take away the condescension from what could seem old hat to college kids at a time of Vietnam protests and so on: the two suggest a level of critique, of awareness that was new to Hollywood product of the day. (Comparison with The Chase and The Swimmer, which were more adult in their concerns, is instructive.) The performances of minor characters are occasionally arch, and quite why Benjamin telephones Mrs Robinson instead of Elaine after the diving suit episode is unexplained, but the film effectively tapped into a sense of mounting malaise among the student population, and a polarisation of WASP Republican affluence on the one hand (symbolised by the Braddocks and Robinsons) and long-haired activism on the other (of the kind despised by Benjamin's landlord). Of the lead performances it is Bancroft's that ages the best, and packs the biggest punch: dismissive and yet needy, malicious but vulnerable, her Mrs Robinson is a creation of real truth and virtuosity.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 105m
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, Murray Hamilton
Synopsis:
Upon returning from college Benjamin Braddock is despondent about his future and allows himself to be led into an affair with the wife of his father's partner; unhappily, he then falls for the daughter.
Review:
An enormously successful film on its release because it tapped into the concerns of the younger generation in a style that appealed. The disorienting mise en scène (overlapping sound, changes of perspective) and the carefully judged gaucheness of Hoffman's Ben take away the condescension from what could seem old hat to college kids at a time of Vietnam protests and so on: the two suggest a level of critique, of awareness that was new to Hollywood product of the day. (Comparison with The Chase and The Swimmer, which were more adult in their concerns, is instructive.) The performances of minor characters are occasionally arch, and quite why Benjamin telephones Mrs Robinson instead of Elaine after the diving suit episode is unexplained, but the film effectively tapped into a sense of mounting malaise among the student population, and a polarisation of WASP Republican affluence on the one hand (symbolised by the Braddocks and Robinsons) and long-haired activism on the other (of the kind despised by Benjamin's landlord). Of the lead performances it is Bancroft's that ages the best, and packs the biggest punch: dismissive and yet needy, malicious but vulnerable, her Mrs Robinson is a creation of real truth and virtuosity.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 105m
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, Murray Hamilton
Synopsis:
Upon returning from college Benjamin Braddock is despondent about his future and allows himself to be led into an affair with the wife of his father's partner; unhappily, he then falls for the daughter.
Review:
An enormously successful film on its release because it tapped into the concerns of the younger generation in a style that appealed. The disorienting mise en scène (overlapping sound, changes of perspective) and the carefully judged gaucheness of Hoffman's Ben take away the condescension from what could seem old hat to college kids at a time of Vietnam protests and so on: the two suggest a level of critique, of awareness that was new to Hollywood product of the day. (Comparison with The Chase and The Swimmer, which were more adult in their concerns, is instructive.) The performances of minor characters are occasionally arch, and quite why Benjamin telephones Mrs Robinson instead of Elaine after the diving suit episode is unexplained, but the film effectively tapped into a sense of mounting malaise among the student population, and a polarisation of WASP Republican affluence on the one hand (symbolised by the Braddocks and Robinsons) and long-haired activism on the other (of the kind despised by Benjamin's landlord). Of the lead performances it is Bancroft's that ages the best, and packs the biggest punch: dismissive and yet needy, malicious but vulnerable, her Mrs Robinson is a creation of real truth and virtuosity.