Why The Graduate Is So Timeless

[Music] the first time I saw the graduate it floored me never before had a film so perfectly articulated my insecurity about life benjamin Braddock's defiant rejection of adulthood was heroic and empowering to watch on the screen in that final scene where he rides away on the bus I felt beyond hopeful about all that life has offered I just had to go out and grab it but the most important footnote of my reaction to the film was this I was 18 and years later as I watched the Graduate again I can't help but laugh at how shallow my understanding of this character and the film as a whole was and what's funny is it's often regarded as the definitive coming-of-age film but it's also one of the most misunderstood in my opinion and I think this is best summarized in Roger Ebert's dissenting opinions on the film between the time of its release in 1967 and again in 1997 you see when a verb was 25 he praised the film's agility as handling such subjects as growing up exclaiming the Graduate is a success and Benjamin's acute honesty and embarrassment are so accurately drawn that we hardly know whether to laugh or look inside ourselves pretty high praise but 30 years later when Ebert returned to review the film at the age of 55 he rolled back most of his original praise labeling Benjamin as an insufferable creep he goes on to explain that great movies remain themselves over the generations while lesser movies are captives of their time they get dated and lose their original focus and power and to me this is the perfect illustration of what I'm talking about older viewers tend to look at the Graduate and see Ben as a sappy pathetic character while younger audiences tend to latch on to how accurately the film portrays insecurities at such a vulnerable age and I don't think the film necessarily affirms either of those reactions you see Ebert was right to question his initial love of the film and doe-eyed satisfaction with Ben and Elaine escaping on the bus at the end and most people understand the ending to be bittersweet then in Elaine's latent uncertainty reveals the true sadness of their situation how quickly they jumped into all of the but what I think Ebert fails to understand is that the film is laced with satire not as a device for cheap laughs but as a means to undermine Ben's journey of self-discovery and despite what he thinks the Graduate succeeds and a contemporary light not only because of its ability to capture that aimlessness of early adulthood but because of its cunning ability to showcase the self-absorbed behavior one often exhibits in his time with satirical ease now most of this is exhibited through camera technique Nichols wanted a unique visual look for the film and encouraged his DP Robert Surtees to experiment with filming techniques because of this the Graduate remains one of the most visually inventive films for its time from the first frame of this film we know Ben is lonely and anxious a feeling anyone can identify with Nichols uses motifs of water to display this frequently framing been behind water within water not to mention this scene where he's literally drowned by his parents it's only after his affair with mrs. Robinson that he's seen floating atop the family pool to demonstrate he's taken control of his life and at other times the camera subverts expectations even visually undermining been like here where Surtees uses a telephoto lens to shoot been in pursuit of a lain implying that he isn't making any progress for this scene where nichols chooses to shoot with a handheld camera that's fixed tightly on Ben as he hurdles past a long line of adults eager to congratulate him the result is claustrophobic placing the audience in the same uneasy state of mind as Ben and the Graduate is far more cynical or subversive than most people recognise Ben's pursuit of Elaine is downright creepy and mrs. Robinson's seduction of Ben is less romantic but rather predatory but Nichols laces all of this with a heavy dose of satire making it kind of charming Robinson you're trying to seduce the Graduate is pandering to the aesthetic of 60s culture but with an ironic sensibility nichols always made sure to dress mrs. robinson in animal prints and intentionally decorated the Robinsons living room to reflect that of a jungle but once Benjamin prods her into revealing that her marriage was a result of getting pregnant and dropping out of art school Robinson's character comes alive emotionally speaking Benjamin you ever take that girl out she demands that Benjamin doesn't talk to or see her daughter in any circumstance now Ben assumes this is because she thinks he isn't good enough for Elaine and proceeds to lodge insults at her I spend my time with a broken-down Oklahoman and his sudden shift towards bitterness is kind of jarring considering Ben has been a bit of a blank canvas so far and I think Nichols does this purposefully to show both the uglier side of Ben's immaturity and posit the idea that perhaps mrs. Robinson is ultimately the more tragic and sympathetic character in the film not Ben the film doesn't even give mrs. Robinson a first name her identity is anchored to being a wife she gave up her life of individuality and passions for a life of security and wealth and that's something that she'll never forgive herself for as Nichols puts it here it's the great American danger we're all in that will bargain away the experience of being alive for the appearance of it to put it simply mrs. Robinson's affair with Benjamin is an expression of her shame and self-loathing and she doesn't want that introduced to her daughter now following this Ben has a distinct shift in character he's brash and impulsive to the point where he exposes the affair in an effort to be transparent and put the past behind him but mrs. Robinson's indignation wins in the end in The Criterion commentary on the film Mike Nichols explains the more a character risks the more we become the more one who become and both of these people risk everything and I think this accurately informs how audiences view Ben in the third act his character so far has been endearing and clumsy and kind of charming but as his actions become more uninhibited and daring it creates sort of an unsettling viewing experience for me at least now the third act of the film is mostly driven by the music of Simon and Garfunkel Nichols wanted to stray away from a traditional score and instead used contemporary music that less aligned with the on-screen actions but established a certain mood and by this third act the music begins to leap out at the audience bit more and I want to indulge on Scarborough Fair for a second the song is used as a musical cue for Ben's clumsy attempts to get Elaine back it's played five times and the third act of the film and it's been said that the four herbes sung by Paul Simon in this tune were used in medieval eras to concoct a love potion now I don't know about all that but with this in mind the song operates less as a function of score but rather a hypnotic dip into Ben's state of mind when chasing Elaine one's the result is sort of an idyllic feeling that distracts from how unsettling his behavior is but with each use of the song it's cerebral quality begins to fade to the point where it's sentimentality becomes weaponized but this brings me to my larger point to ever look at this film as glorifying youthful spontaneity is to miss the point entirely but what's brilliant is how Nichols enables both of these perspectives adults can look at the film and scoff at the naivete of Ben's youthful exuberance and younger audiences cringe and laugh at the adults traditionalist demeanour blastings but to look at any character in this film cynically is to kind of take the bait so to speak great films don't take sides and Mike Nichols didn't aim to here either he's not pointing at Ben or the adults and saying one of them is right and the other is wrong Nichols was doing a showcase on what was going on in the culture at this time through a satirical Lance the Graduate is timeless because of its ability to capture the perpetual struggle between young and older generations and these days there isn't any shortage of movies about growing up but I'd be hard-pressed to find one that dissects the clumsier sides of maturing into adulthood with such an acute sense of wit at face value the Graduate might seem like a window on an era stuck in the past but the best stories contain lessons that are timeless [Music] god bless you please mrs. Robinson Oh ray [Music]

Channel: More Than Meets The Lens

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Keywords: the graduate, graduate, dustin hoffman, on cinema, more than meets the lens, movies, film, analysis, nerdwriter, every frame a painting, movie analysis, 60s, 1967, greatest, timeless, why, beyond the frame, lessons from the screenplay, why the graduate is so timeless, video essay, film analysis, paul thomas anderson, joker, comedy, edge of seventeen, the spectacular now, a24, love simon

Id: G9YMeI1Eii4

Length: 8min 57sec (537 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 09 2019