The Graduate
Published April 16, 2021
Film info
- Title The Graduate
- Director Mike Nichols
- Year 1967
- Run time 1hr 46m
- Genres Drama, Comedy
- Tagline This is Benjamin. He's a little worried about his future.
Deep in the suburbs of Pasadena, a bored, confused and alienated twenty-one year old graduate named Benjamin Braddock awkwardly drifts from moment to moment, in constant turmoil over his lack of direction and the uncertain, impending future. Driven by a desire for experience and desperate to avoid the corporate, deluded and mediocre world of his affluent parents, Benjamin succumbs to the advances of an older woman and begins an affair with the persuasive and enigmatic Mrs Robinson, the wife of one of his father's business partners. But what starts as a farcical fling becomes painfully complicated when Ben finds himself falling in love with her daughter.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 2:02 | Great intro to a movie. |
| 5:46 | Amazing sense of claustrophobia with these close-ups. |
| 8:22 | “Oh no, I’m just sort of disturbed about things.” Same! |
| 10:49 | Is a sun porch a conservatory? Not a very romantic name. |
| 18:41 | I massively don’t wish I was 20 again. |
| 23:44 | Weirdest birthday present ever. |
| 32:40 | Benjamin is both adorable and infuriating in equal measure. |
| 42:12 | He doesn’t seem particularly happy in this affair. |
| 45:41 | Oof, razor cuts are so painful. |
| 47:12 | “Now look, we’re going to do this thing, we’re going to have a conversation.” |
| 51:04 | I don’t understand smoking generally but smoking in bed just seems so crazy. |
| 1:00:14 | Has he taken her to a strip club for their first date? |
| 1:02:39 | You can’t upset someone and then tell them to stop crying. |
| 1:12:45 | What’s with the saloon doors into the kitchen? |
| 1:18:42 | Dude, Dustin can run like Tom Cruise can! |
| 1:19:44 | Even the woman on the bus knows he’s completely out of line. |
| 1:26:56 | The yawning proposal is epic. |
| 1:35:27 | Why do none of these people seem to lock their doors? |
Thoughts
So here’s what happened. I spotted the movie Rumor Has It with Jennifer Aniston and thought it was about time we watched another of her rom-coms. But the intro to that movie describes in great detail how it is going to reference The Graduate, which I knew very little about, so we had to do this first.
It was SO GOOD. Exquisite from start to finish, there’s no other word. Each frame perfectly fit the mood, the setting, capturing the emotions that Ben was feeling. It’s a good story, more of a comedy than I was expecting, but grabs you and keeps you wanting to know what’s going to happen next. There’s no getting away from the fact that Benjamin acts weird at the start and just gets more and more unhinged as the movie goes on, but everyone around him isn’t squeaky clean either.
Top, top movie.
Rating: 5 / 5