The comedy staple of the 1960s, The Graduate is a classic of American cinema, and provides us with an interesting finale which takes some time to sink in and comprehend. Viewers are often split on how to interpret this ending, with some believing it to be joyful, and others morose. Its final shot is made all the more powerful thanks primarily to the subsequent shot before it. After Ben rushes to stop Elaine's wedding and appears as her knight in shining armour the two flee their relatives and friends and escape on a bus. They laugh for a while, but the penultimate shot lingers on past the point of comfort, and we slowly see the smiles drain from their faces as realisation dawns upon the pair. The length of this shot is no coincidence, and as such many have interpreted the sinking in the couple's facial expressions to denote a negative ending. I'm inclined to agree. The film ends on a shot of the bus driving off into the distance, Ben and Elaine still silent, sat in the back. They don't begin to laugh again, they don't even begin to actually talk to one another. The pair now understand the full extent of what they have committed to, and rather than ending on a cheesy slice of Hollywood happiness the final shot instead presents us with a grim reality and the prospect of the consequences that may come as a result of their rebellion. Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" compliments this end shot well. Being a song about the emptiness of life and how one can fill this emptiness is, once again, no coincidence. Living lives in which they were forced to conform both Ben and Elaine rebelled by running away with each other. But they aren't really in love, and the emptiness persists within them, and boy do they know it. A very dark sequence for a comedy, but a very rewarding and highly intriguing final shot to say the least.
