The Graduate

God bless you dear Mrs. Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know…

I think everyone knows the song by Simon and Garfunkel, and even the most of Hungarians have heard about the ’Mrs. Robinson’ story, but I think mainly because of the erotic content. But the film itself is very famous as well, although some American history and social studies are needed to understand it.

The music is very determining in the film, and the most effective is ’The sound of silence’ which goes hand in hand with the symbol of water. I take the view that water equals silence in the film, which refers to the words unspoken and that the mainstream society in which Benjamin lives has strict rules what is to talk about and what is not to. And I believe Mrs. Robinson never wants to talk because she became the victim of these rules and kind of life, and prefers not to talk at all if it is impossible to talk about thing she wants, or once wanted before became’ the Mrs. Robinson’.

The music has a constant contrast with the visual content: the lyrics are thought-evoking and always have a deeper message while the story itself is about Benjamin (and Elaine) suffering in the lying environment and already prepared course of life.

The most interesting part is the ’happy end’, when Ben and Elaine escape from her wedding and Ben is forcing back the shouting crowd by a cross. That’s fun part, but when they get on the bus they don’t seem happy at all, but a little nervous, a little regretful, a little aimless. And then comes ’Hello darkness my old friend’ again, which kills the whole feeling of achievement and freedom. It might refer to that no matter they broke away from their families’ false expectations, they still have nobody close to them, and have no idea what is next.

It also seemed to me that the whole movie is building up only for this single ending scene, and it would explain some absurd scenes, like Elaine falling love with Ben only because the kiss and that Mrs. Robinson would tell Elaine everything herself if Benjamin met her daughter.

But it was a real experience to see the young Dustin Hoffman on screen. I totally believed him being so embarrassed.