Graduating to become a Proper Person.

I was lucky enough to meet and talk with Dustin Hoffman the other night, after a private screening of his film 'The Graduate' at Soho House. With clever, insightful direction from Mike Nichols and a peculiar and dynamic hero, 'The Graduate' still stands strong. I see it as a coming of age story that explores the emptiness we've all felt, that niggling feeling that something is missing, the 'sound of silence'. In fact 'The Graduate' is a great example of someone striving and struggling to be a proper person. Or perhaps he struggles with even wanting to be a proper person- should he want that? He sees everyone around him as separate- as a different kind of person to the man he wants to be. There is no ideal for Dustin's 'Ben', just examples of what he doesn't want. No wonder he's confused. It was right not to cast Robert Redford or a typical leading man type. What was needed was a questioner, someone to push the boundaries, someone who was 'on edge'. In a way, Ben is a version of Camus' 'The Outsider'- that ultimate anti-hero who comes up again and again in literature- J.D. Salinger then Brett Easton-Ellis bring the disconnected man to life in different ways and Ben Braddock is not completely dissimilar, although he finds passion momentarily. Dustin Hoffman is the perfect casting because he possesses so many juxtaposing characteristics. I love this character, sometimes I feel just like him- he is a dichotomy, a conundrum.

Dustin takes us on an emotional journey as we laugh at his awkwardness, wonder at his detachment, admire his strength and self commitment and are swept away by his extreme passion and determination. He really does 'go his own way'- as Fleetwood Mac so aptly put it. When he gets what he wanted or what he thought he wanted, we are left with the uneasy feeling that the darkness has returned and perhaps it wasn't really what he wanted in the first place. Once again he seems detached, confused, alone- even as he sits next to the girl of his dreams. Dustin gets it perfectly, not because he is so capable of displaying emotion (although of course he is a master of doing so) but because he welcomes the audience into his head. The most captivating parts of his performance are when we see him trying to work it all out- why is he feeling the way he does? What is the point of life? What do I really want? Those are the questions that seem to swell in his mind and draws us in as we try to work them out with him. The answers he comes up with are hilarious. One of my favorite parts is when he tells his parents he is getting married and yet the girl not only is unaware of it, but doesn't even like him! It is wonderful to see him telling himself not to do things and then taking every opposite action. No wonder he gets caught up in this mess. He tells Mrs Robinson that he has to leave and yet keeps walking towards her naked body- who wouldn't? Ultimately, I find the film to be extremely truthful and very clever. I laughed a lot. It makes me think of Horace Walpole's quote; 'The world is a tragedy for those who feel but a comedy for those who think.'