reflections on The Graduate

Remember that part in The Graduate, when Mrs. Robinson is tricking/beginning to seduce Ben? And he keeps calling her out on it, and she denies it, and then he gets all embarassed? And it is so unbearably uncomfortable? And then she has him come upstairs to look at Elaine’s portrait, and when he turns around she’s naked? And she says, “I want you to know that I am available to you, Benjamin?”
That part is so amazing.
I pretty much love Mrs. Robinson, even though she is a bitch. It takes some kind of nerve to seduce a boy your daughter’s age! And I love that line- “I want you to know that I am available to you.” It totally trumps my “do you maybe want to make out a little right now?” And I think her character is really well developed. I love it when they are lying in bed at the hotel, and Ben starts asking her questions about herself, and she’s getting pissed off, and then she suddenly gets so vulnerable when he asks what she majored in. Art. She’s facing the camera, and her face is so wrought, but he can’t see it, and so he just keeps on yammering. I would argue that that moment is the most dynamic in the whole film. Or the most illuminating. Or something. Anyway, I love it.
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I haven’t watched The Graduate in a while. I was just thinking about it.

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5 Responses to reflections on The Graduate

  1. james says:

    that film is so amazing in so many ways! it really began a whole new generation of film. well.. that and easy rider.
    and dustin hoffman is so young and gorgeous!
    fun trivial information on imdb too… http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061722/trivia

  2. Emily says:

    Thank you for finally enabling me to see this film, which everyone else is willing to rave about but not to see again. It lived up to all the buildup. I only regret that I didn’t see it in time to understand all those jokes people were making at my college grad party about the future being in plastic.

  3. Emily says:

    Thank you for enabling me finally to see this film, which everyone else is willing to rave about but not to see again. It lived up to all the buildup. I only regret that I didn’t see it in time to understand all those jokes people were making at my college grad party about the future being in plastic.

  4. Mikey says:

    i have not seen this film. :(
    i think i would like it a lot, from what i know about it.
    (also, unrelated, we’re blog neighbors now!)

  5. Ski says:

    Oh my Christ! That first scene you speak of is my most favorite movie scene of all time. And The Graduate is in my TOP 5, for sure. I watch as often as possible (which actually only works out to about twice a year, but that’s more often than any other movie for me, so…), and think about it all the time.

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