Critical essay: The Graduate (dir: Mike Nichols, 1967)
Choose a film which is in conveying important themes effectively. State
what these themes are and show how the film uses stylistic techniques to
convey these themes. Analyse one particular scene showing how the director
uses film language effectively.
In your answer, you must refer to the text and at least two of:
Mise en scene, cinematography, editing, soundtrack, or any other important
feature.
Seen at time as groundbreaking film in both theme and style
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About 21 yr-old Ben Bradock – comes home to California from university after v
successful career but lacking in direction. His coming-home part significant in
that it is all his parents’ friends, no-one of his own age. Likewise his twenty-first
birthday party when he is “put on display” by father who has bought him
expensive birthday present which he has no use for – a diving suit. Seduced by
and has affair with attractive middle aged woman – Mrs Robinson –married to
his father’s partner in a law firm. However, falls in love with 20-yr old daughter,
Elaine. Ends with Benjamin gate-crashing Elaine’s wedding and running off with
the bride.
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Film deals with themes of isolation, alienation, entrapment, the generation gap,
romance (“love can conquer all.”) Through use of mise en scene, editing and
soundtrack, Mike Nichols shows concerns of film very effectively.
Mise en scene and cinematography
Ben’s isolation + entrapment – reflected in numerous glass and water motifs
used to divide Ben from others.
(pool, fish tank etc – is Ben drowning? Is he a “fish out of water”?)
Camera veers from ELS of Ben alone in wide open spaces (eg walking along
airport walkway, on the Berkley University campus) to ECUs and claustrophobic
framing devices , allowing audience to empathise with protagonist
eg opening sequence – Ben’s parents shroud our view by stepping in front of
camera and oppressing him visually – makes audience share Ben’s frustration.
Also when he goes downstairs to be crowded by parents’ friends
Ben’s clothing and body language progress from tight conformity of suit and tie
at start to more laid-back attitude (casual clothes, shades, cigarettes) after
affair with Mrs R. (Also mirrors social changes in USA – influence of Vietnam
war caused many people, esp. youth to rebel against conformity, associating it
with repression – though Ben, even later, contrasted with other young people at
eg Berkley – he is more of a loner than his contemporaries)
Cf Mrs R’s dominant, predatory animal-print clothing discarded after she has
“devoured her prey” and Ben no longer a challenge. Ceases to be youthful looking
seductress after daughter’s entrance reminds her of her age.
Editing
Nichols undermines conventional “passing of time” techniques used in films,
blurring Ben’s summer activities from home to hotel room, almost confusing
audience. Prevents clear distinction (in summer montage sequence and when he is
shaving) between mother and Mrs Robinson, illustrating
meaningless/inappropriate quality of affair. Ben passively drifts through events
rather than enjoying affair. (see below).
Also uses non-naturalistic editing techniques, eg his “double-take” when he is
confronted by Mrs Robinson, naked. Traditionally in Hollywood, editing was
supposed to be “invisible”. By using techniques that draw attention to
themselves, Nichols giving a fresh “look” to his film, perhaps influenced by
French New Wave.
Soundtrack
Innovatively uses silence as a sound effect, highlighting importance of both
diegetic and non-diegetic sound to audience’s understanding of film.
[diegetic – seems to come “from the story” , from a natural part of the scene
the audience is watching eg in a scene shot in country with two characters
talking, diegetic sound would be the characters’ voices, the sound of birds and
farmyard animals, the wind rustling the trees etc. (Not necessarily recorded
directly at the time – could have been added in post-production – but meant to
be actual sounds)
Non-diegetic sounds – orchestral score to add mood and underline intended
meaning eg creepy music in horror, high-pitched violins in murder scene etc) and
voice-overs – ie the audience understands that there is not meant to be an
orchestra just out of camera; likewise, we are not meant to infer that a
narrator is just off camera but present in the scene]
Ben’s POV shots (eg when he has to wear his diving suit and jump into the pool in
front of all his parents’ friends) often accompanied by absence of natural sound
whenever Ben not listening, allowing us to experience things from character’s
perspective
Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack relates directly to themes and plot,
eg “Mrs Robinson” track when car losing steam when car runs out of petrol –
good example of “mickeymousing”
eg “Sound of Silence” which becomes motif for Ben’s dissatisfaction throughout
film (“Hello darkness my old friend”)
Ending –is it a happy one? Ambiguous – Ben has achieved his goal but “Hello
Darkness My Old Friend” on soundtrack as B and E sit silently on a journey to
nowhere? Nichols commented that they were heading for roles just like their
parents’ but is that reading supported by the film?
Montage sequence showing his relationship with Mrs R that summer
[Note: montage is French word for editing but when used in English means a
succession of shots – often joined by dissolves -where time is compressed]
Scene preceded by his seduction by Mrs R in room in Taft Hotel – she
wearing animal prints (as she does frequently in early part of film)
connoting predator. When she makes to dress and leave, suggesting he is
“inadequate”, he shouts “Don’t move!” and slams the door shut (her
strategy has worked).
Scene begins to accompaniment of S and G’s “Sounds of Silence” on
soundtrack, long fade in, to reveal swimming pool with sunlight glistening
on surface. Dissolve to Ben lying in the pool in an inflatable raft; wearing
wraparound sun-glasses (to shut out the external world?), dissolve to
water then another dissolve to B lying back drinking beer; he is drifting
with the movement of the water. Again dissolve back to pool and another
one to B sitting at side of pool. Followed by a long fade in from black, to
the “Sounds of Silence” on soundtrack. “Hello darkness my old friend”
doesn’t suggest a very positive future for the relationship). For next 6
mins or so, a montage of images linked by clever transitional devices,
suggests the emptiness of his life. Walks back and forth transparently
between these two pursuits and worlds – his house and the Taft Hotel –
and not always clear which is which. Enters the Braddock home from the
pool, emerging into the hotel room with Mrs. Robinson [a Hotel Taft towel
hangs on the bathroom door]. Benjamin blankly stares into space against a
black background - the image emphasises his sterile environment. He
rises from his bed to shut the dining room door, briefly glimpsing his
parents eating dinner. After lying down again in bed, he is back in the
Taft Hotel bedroom. A female figure walks past in front of him, dresses,
and leaves the room. Then, he leaves his own bedroom, passes his mother,
and goes for a swim in the backyard pool. 2 locations seem to be
“blurred” into one.
One of their many sexual contacts is symbolized by his diving up onto a
inflatable rubber pool raft inter-cut with his landing on top of Mrs.
Robinson in bed. In another disorienting (we at first think his father has
“caught hem”) cut from their sexual coupling to his lounging on a raft in
the backyard pool, he turns to his despairing father who stands over him
and questions his continued laziness and lack of direction. Father insists
on knowing point of his four years of college - without plans for graduate
school or a career. He peers through his dark sunglasses at the
silhouette of his father above him:
Mr. Braddock: Ben, what are you doing?
Ben: Well, I would say that I'm just drifting here in the pool.
Mr. Braddock: Why?
Ben: Well, it's very comfortable just to drift here.
“Drifting” is what he is doing in figurative sense and is unable to communicate
with his parents
Conclusion
By effective use of mise en scene, soundtrack and montage/editing, Nichols
effectively uses film language to portray Ben’s predicament.