Deep Throat: The Use of Conversation in THE GRADUATE


(Originally written in 2012) Mike Nichols' The Graduate, written by Buck Henry and Colder Willingham, is about a young man named Benjamin returning home after graduating from college. Following a party celebrating Ben's accomplishment, Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's business partner, makes sexual advances towards him.  Ben resists at first, but eventually calls her and the two begin having an affair. About a few months, Mr. Robinson, obviously unaware, arranges a date between Ben and Elaine, the Robinson's daughter. Much to the protest of Mrs. Robinson, Ben reluctantly takes Elaine out and unwittingly falls in love with her. The rest of the movie deals with the problems that incur from this predicament.

At first, it’s easy to get caught up within this provocative plot and overlook many of the film’s more subtle elements. One of the most intriguing is the film's use of language. To begin with, Willingham and Henry deliver a deft script filled with quick-witted dialogue. The actors deliver their lines as if they're dancing a tango. Consider the famous scene where an older gentleman gives Ben some famous investment advice:


Mr. MacGuire
"I just want to say one word, just one word."

Ben

"Yes, sir."

Mr. MacGuire

"Are you listening?"

Ben

"Yes sir, I am."

Mr. MacGuire

"Plastics."

Ben

"Exactly, how do you mean?"

Mr. MacGuire

"There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?"

Ben

"Yes, I will."

Mr. MacGuire

"Enough said."

Language is also used as a tool for manipulation within the film. When Ben takes Mrs. Robinson home after his graduation party, she uses casual requests to not only get the reluctant Ben to not only drive her home but to have a drink, and even to come upstairs into her daughter's bedroom, not once but twice. There is a verbal tug of war between Ben and Mrs. Robinson that Ben doesn't even know is occurring, literally pulling him around the house. Skillfully, Mrs. Robinson entices Ben into the predicament by appealing to his sense of decorum. She doesn't immediately proposition him, but instead makes one small request after another, realizing that he would never be rude or insult a friend of his parents. She begins by saying, "Can you come in until I get the lights on," and then "please wait until my husband gets home." She asks Ben what he wants to drink, and then if he wants to see Elaine's portrait. After they look at the picture and Ben goes back downstairs, Mrs. Robinson calls from her bedroom and asks if he could bring up her purse and put it on Elaine's bed. When Ben goes into Elaine's room a second time, the trap is finally set. Mrs. Robinson comes in naked and makes her final ploy. Mrs. Robinson plays on Ben's fear of being impolite; he is oblivious and easily seduced as a result.


While Mrs. Robinson's language is steeped in deception, Ben's uses language that is direct and  without pretense. During his graduation party when his father says there are people downstairs who want to see him, Ben says, "Could you explain to them, that I have to be alone for awhile?" When Mrs. Robinson meets him in the hotel room for the first time and begins undressing, he feels guilty and says, "Mrs. Robinson, I can't do this. This is terribly wrong. Can you imagine my parents, can you imagine what they would say if they saw us in this room. I think they deserve better than this." Mrs. Robinson doesn't play by the same rules though. She asks Ben if this is his first time, and says that just because he's "inadequate" in one area, doesn't mean he should be embarrassed. Ben neglects to see her game and gives in to prove that he is indeed adequate.


Even though Ben's sincere, he's unable to communicate with anyone on an intimate level for the first half of the film. The opening scene shows him alone and stolid, while Simon and Garfunkle's "The Sounds of Silence" is playing in the background. The next scene is Ben's party; it's noisy and the faces of the people talking are shot at close-up, distorted angles. The garrulous conversations are steeped with patronizing advice and meaningless compliments. The scene is filled with confusion, forcing Ben to repeatedly retreat to his room to be alone. A similar scene occurs later when Ben's father buys him some scuba equipment; Ben jumps into the water and sinks to the bottom of the pool. The camera slowly pans out suggesting a sense of isolation and loneliness. In fact, Ben never says more than a few sentences to anyone until nearly an hour into the film. In one failed attempt, he is in bed with Mrs. Robinson and instead of making love, he asks her if they could talk for once. She is uninterested though and keeps turning off the light. He keeps pressing the issue until Mrs. Robinson reveals that she studied art in college, and that she had to marry Mr. Robinson because she became pregnant with Elaine. For the first time in the movie, Ben verbally asserts himself and is able to control the conversation and persuade someone to talk to him. The conversation while being candid is not fulfilling though and eventually turns into an argument.


Of course, Ben does take out Elaine, again being polite, this time to Mr. Robinson. However, out of “politeness” to Mrs. Robinson, he sabotages the date by taking Elaine to a strip club. At the beginning of the date, Ben is oblivious to how it is affecting Elaine. This is until a stripper comes over and mockingly starts dancing right above Elaine's head. He cruelly tells Elaine that she's missing quite a show. This only lasts for a second though. When he sees how embarrassed Elaine is, something immediately changes in Ben. He realizes what he's doing, removes his sunglasses (which has been a shield of sorts), and pushes the dancer away. Elaine runs out of the club as Ben follows her. When he catches up to her and begins talking, it marks the first moment of honest, heartfelt communication within the film.


Ben begins by saying, "Can I tell you something? Listen, I just want to tell you one thing. I'm not like this. I hate myself like this." The two leave and go to a drive-in restaurant where the intimate communicate continues. While eating, Ben says-

"I've had this feeling ever since I graduated. This compulsion that I have to be rude all the time. It's like I've been playing some kind of game, but the rule don't make any sense to me. They're being madeup by all the wrong people. No, I mean no one makes them up. They seem to make themselves up."
This is really a remarkable scene and there is something released in Ben here. He is finally able to talk to someone who is responsive and genuinely interested in what he is saying. Nichols cleverly juxtaposes these first moments of intimacy along with noise and confusion. When Ben and Elaine are outside of the strip club, the camera is placed across the street, with cars driving by and people talking, making Ben's confession to Elaine barely audible. Also at the drive-in diner, when Ben and Elaine are continuing their conversation, a car next to them is filled with kids who are playing loud music. When Ben asks them to turn it down, they actually turn the music up, forcing him to put the roof up on his convertible and to roll up his windows. Interestingly, Nichols keeps the camera outside of the car. As a result, we can't hear what Ben and Elaine are saying, but we can see that they are continuing their conversation despite the distractions. The scene outside of the strip club and the loud music from the car are symbolic of the chaos surrounding Ben up to that point in the film. Talking to Elaine though is a refuge, a safe place from this confusion; a place so personal that the audience isn't allowed to hear it.

In the next scene, the top is back down and the viewer is allowed back into this personal space, as the two are quietly sitting outside Elaine's house. What's apparent in the scene is the silence of it and how it contrasts with the noise of the two previous scenes. Elaine quietly asks Ben if he wants to come in for some coffee. Ben thinks for a moment and points out that it's still early, and that they could go someplace else. Elaine smiles warmly, nods her head, and says "Alright." Finally, language is no longer used as a diversion or a form of deception, but as a quiet and tender space for intimacy.


Of course, once Elaine finds out about Ben's affair with her mother, things become complicated again. The intimate space is regained though when Elaine visits Ben in his temporary apartment at Berkley and quietly asks him to kiss her. He asks her to marry him again, and she finally accepts. Even though Ben has found this intimate space with Elaine, he still can't find it with anyone else. This is particularly noticeable during the conversation when Mr. Robinson breaks into Ben's apartment and says he will press charges if Ben contacts Elaine again. We also see it with Ben's landlord played by Norman Fell. It doesn't matter though, because the two "languages" are different and Ben doesn't have any need for the other. Notice what happens when Ben and Elaine's "language" is forced to confront that of her parent's during the wedding into which Elaine is forced. Fully realized by his love for Elaine, Ben is no longer shy nor afraid of social impropriety and literally yells out his love for all to hear. For the first time, his language is not only a source of honesty but a source of power. Elaine has the same power and yells out his name as well. Interestingly, nothing else is heard. We see the Robinson's faces but we only see their mouths moving. Their voices have become inaudible. Ben and Elaine of course escape with each other and end up on the bus. In this closing scene, Ben has come full circle: From being stuck in the "Sounds of Silence" at the beginning, to talking yet being misunderstood, to talking and connecting with Elaine, to now sitting peacefully next to Elaine without having to say a word.