My very first film which I truly loved is The Graduate. It is now a very old film. Most of the people involved in this film are near retiring age or passed away. Even with this in mind, this film has something to offer to anyone who is a fan of comedy drama of everlasting beauty. There are certain things that are classic and timeless. There are poems and books and movies as well as music whose popularity will never disappear or diminish with time. This movie is definitely one of them. It is classic not because it doesn’t have any script that caters to the late 1960’s of America, yes it does. It has many moments that shows what it was like in southern California during the late ’60’s with reference to Topless club, drive-in hamburger joint, and some reference to the students who were “agitators” against the Vietnam war. Some of the songs also briefly alludes to the restless society against the social ills of the time. However, having said all that, the timeless quality of this movie is all about the young man’s journey into a manhood and sexual maturation and full realization of finding out the true love through an illicit affair with older woman.
The story is very simple indeed. The young Graduate of a liberal college with excellent grades and stable parents comes home to have a nice summer after the graduation and suddenly becomes an object of sexual desire of an older but very attractive woman who is very close to his family. She is a wife of a lawyer who is a partner in the father’s law firm . This older woman educates him to become a sexually mature man in a short time and slowly changes this innocent young man to become a moody, guilt-ridden and depressed man who only goes out every night to be with this older woman. The audience slowly watches in fascination how a focused, happy young man, who is an athletic, smart and really innocent but aimless college graduate slowly falling into the arms of older seductress who is depressed, alcoholic, selfish and deeply troubling older woman. She turns him into the same brooding, guilty, depressed, hopeless man with the initial fascination of nightly sex, which slowly turns into the sheer boredom that he feels. Then he actually meets a young woman of his age, whom he truly falls in love with and he transforms back to a whole person with hope, love and salvation. The story has remarkable timeless quality to it. The script and its delivery by the actors show the near perfect work of the director and writer. The comedic elements are almost everywhere without obvious efforts. When the main character played by the legendary Dustin Hoffman is trying to get a hotel room for the first time in his life reminded me of every young man trying to act like a seasoned and older person who may be in a same situation. It was so life-like, I sensed so many of us identifying with similar activities, like the first time you snuck into a porn movie or first time that you smoked in secret.
However, the one of the most captivating thing about this movie is the music and how heartfelt the mood set by the music by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle is throughout the entire movie. The quiet guitar intro to the last song of the movie called the Sound of Silence and the poetic song of April Come She Will in the album Sound of Silence released in 1966 caps the mood of the movie so well. The four seasons of love found and love lost in the perfect poem to describe the fleeting moment of intense passionate love affair just sums up so beautifully, I can never tire of watching that portion of the movie.
The conflicting emotions portrayed elegantly by the two main characters of the movie played by Dustin Huffman when he truly realizes that he was in a bad dream seduced into it by Mrs. Robinson and the female love interest realizes that she is possibly and truly in love with this young man are not only breathtakingly beautiful to watch but also heart breaking to watch.
The comedy in the movie is very subtle but definitely the entire movie is a darkest, black comedy barring close to the tragedy. However, the story and acting and the iconic songs that make this movie one of my all time favorite movie to enjoy over and over again. What a periodic timepiece which is really timeless and beautiful. For a serious film lover, I strongly recommend this movie. 
My Philosophy 