The Graduate (1967) – New 4K UHD Collector’s Edition (Review)

Studiocanal releases a new special 3-disc Collector’s Edition of the trailblazing 1967 classic The Graduate.

Mike Nichols won Best Director at the Academy Awards and Dustin Hoffman (in his breakout role), himself was Oscar nominated with support by Anne Bancroft and Katherine Ross, in a coming of age tale that captured the imagination of a generation and is still relevant today.

Helped by Nichols assured hand of directing, the legacy of the film has been helped somewhat by the seminal soundtrack by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, the zenith of their creative collaboration, with hit songs ‘Mrs. Robinson’ and ‘The Sound of Silence’. There is a copy of the soundtrack included in this three-disc edition.

Deep in the suburbs of Pasadena, a bored, confused and alienated twenty-one-year-old graduate named Benjamin Braddock (Hoffman) 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 (Bancroft), 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 Elaine (Ross).

Dustin Hoffman and Anna Bancroft laying in bed, in the Graduate — Studiocanal UK

Upon rewatching the film, what stands out are the bold creative choices Nichols makes in his storytelling. Moments of brilliance from the subliminal flashes of Mrs. Robinson’s modesty when she first confronts Ben in the bedroom; to playing the entirety of a song over the soundtrack helping propel the narrative. These were new moments of ingenuity at the birth of the New Hollywood cinema, remember this was released the same year as Bonnie and Clyde, that other torchbearer for a rebirth of cinema.

All these choices culminate in one of cinema’s great final shots as Ben and Elaine sit on the back row of the departing bus – the future unknowing and as uncertain as they were hours beforehand.

The film won Best Director for Nichols, but both this and Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde missed out on the Best Picture. They lost out to In the Heat of the Night, while a fine film, a safe choice upon reflection in the same vein as Green Book winning over such films as Roma or A Star is Born in 2019

The new Collector’s edition has a wealth of extras. Audio commentary by Professor Thomas Koebner; audio commentary by Nichols and Steven Soderbergh; audio commentary by Hoffman and Ross; screen tests, scene analysis, about the music. Also a 64-page booklet, two posters and the CD.