听 The transition from youth to adult is a burden that many have yet to experience and others yet to forget. For Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), it's imminent. Thrust into the spotlight at his graduation party filled with his parents' friends, they are all keen to know which rut he intends to lodge his life into. He doesn't know it then, but he's about to take a leap into the unknown, and it's our privilege to share in the resulting masterful mix of wit and drama that is "The Graduate".
The catalyst of his sexual liberation is Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft). As a friend of his parents she should be no more than a boring distraction to him. She sees in him a boundless youthful passion that she can draw upon to make up for her husband's inadequacies. "Would you mind walking ahead of me?" she purrs, as Ben reluctantly escorts her home from the party. He stumbles ahead, totally unprepared for the bedroom she traps him in, with the killer question, "Would you like me to seduce you?"
As it turns out, not quite yet thank you very much, but his resistance is to prove futile and once broken, he's all too keen to continue their fling. That is until he meets Mrs Robinson's daughter (Katharine Ross), and then everything suddenly becomes very complicated.
For the actors, this set-up brings out tantalising performances that can only be rivalled by the achingly witty script. Director Mike Nichols provides a masterclass in using the widescreen frame to elucidate complex emotional situations with ease and understatement. Seamless editing keeps the pace clean and fast while hormonal hell breaks loose and movie history is made.
Read a review of the DVD.
