Peculiar lighting was used in the film The Graduate. For example, when we are in Elaine’s bedchamber, Benjamin desperately tries to confess his affair with her mother. The director shows a guiltless Elaine in the forefront as an out-of-focused Mrs. Robinson looks through the split of the door in the background. The camera shows Mrs. Robinson’s beaten face, and then goes back to the innocent Elaine, as she comprehends the reality of the situation. Thus heading towards one of the most excellent shots. After Elaine shrieks and kicks when banning Benjamin out of her bedroom, the director shows a standard close-up of Mrs. Robinson, unresponsive face and make up dripping when she says “Goodbye Benjamin” Nichols (the director) zooms out leaving Mrs.
