Is Chance The Gardener Being There Autistic

Being There (1979) Poster

10 /10

terrific but apparently not for every taste

As stated above, I am very surprised this movie is ranked so highly. This is not because I didn't like it--I ADORED this movie. It's just that I got so many people to watch it with me over the years and only one other person who watched it with me loved it. Several friends and my wife were completely ambivalent towards it. Comments like "I guess it was pretty good" or "it's too strange" were repeated again and again.

So why do I think it's brilliant. First, it APPEARS so magnificent because it is a sharp contrast to the BAD movies Peter Sellers made towards the end of his short life. It's like an oasis among the dreck. Second, although some might discount it, his completely flat emotional output as the character Chauncy Gardner took a lot of talent and patience. I can really respect that. Third, the movie tries to be different--and I think I'd rather see a movie that dares to be different and fails than one that is a blockbuster. Fourth, the comedy is VERY subdued and underplayed--you need to pay attention and think to enjoy all the laughs--they aren't spelled out for you like most comedies.

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8 /10

Breaking From A Self Contained Universe

Although any number of people have compared Being There to Forrest Gump and the similarities are obvious, I like to think of Peter Sellers as Chance the Gardener as a whole lot like Jim Carrey's Truman Burbank in The Truman Show. Both come from very self contained universe, but whereas Carrey realizes that there is something out there beyond the reality his futuristic television show has provided and seeks to escape. Sellers however has come from a universe whose boundaries are that of the house he's been brought up in and when he's forced into the real world by as much chance as his name indicates he brings the real world and envelops it into his own reality.

Back then people didn't understand autism and it wasn't talked about a whole lot. In that sense Hal Ashby's Being There was a ground breaking film as much as Forrest Gump was 16 years later. Chance is a 40 to 50 something man who was raised in comfortable circumstances by someone only identified as 'the old man'. Never being outside the grounds of the estate his reality consists of only two things, what he learns on television and the tasks he performs tending the garden on the grounds of the estate.

He can't quite comprehend when 'the old man' dies and the estate is shut down and the house put up for sale. When yuppies David Clennon and Denise DuBarry move in and tell him he has to leave he just dutifully packs and takes to the mean streets of the nation's capital.

By as much chance as his name indicates he has a run in with a limousine that power couple Melvyn Douglas and Shirley MacLaine who take the slightly injured man to their palatial estate which has enough grounds to keep any gardener busy. In trying to communicate with Sellers, he morphs into Chauncey Gardiner and his simple gardening aphorisms are taken as profound wisdom. Even the President of the United States, Jack Warden is impressed.

Being There is based on a Jerzy Kosinski novel and the characters that Melvyn Douglas and Shirley MacLaine are based on are unmistakeably W. Averill Harriman and his third wife Pamela Harriman who were both power brokers behind the scenes in the Democratic Party. Douglas says that he's never sought public office and Harriman broke that rule only once in a less than impressive term as Governor of New York. He was far more at home with presidential appointments to various posts and serving as a senior adviser to Democratic presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter. Roosevelt and Truman were his seniors. His wife Pamela, his third wife was the widow of Randolph Churchill and a noted party giver where the high and mighty in Democratic governments mixed politics with cocktails.

Douglas got a second Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Being There to match the one he got for Hud. Peter Sellers got Being There's only other Oscar recognition, a nomination for Best Actor which he lost to Dustin Hoffman for Kramer Vs. Kramer. Oddly enough neither the film or Hal Ashby's direction didn't get recognized.

The only guy who puts it all together is Richard Dysart as Melvyn Douglas's doctor who gives a very rueful performance indeed.

As for Chance the Gardener or Chauncey Gardener you have to see Being There to see what chance has in store for Chance.

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6 /10

Interesting quirky but not that funny

Chance (Peter Sellers) is a mentally challenged gardener who has lived an isolated life at a rich old man's Washington house watching TV. Then the old man dies and Chance is thrown out onto the street. Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine)'s limo bumps into Chance and mistakenly calls him Chauncey Gardner. Her husband Ben (Melvyn Douglas) is a powerful but sickly businessman. Dr. Allenby (Richard Dysart) treats Chance and tells him to stay for a few days. Nobody is able to read Chance correctly. Ben sees Chance as an insightful fellow businessman. Chance accompanying Ben meets and even advises the President (Jack Warden). When the President quotes Chance on TV, he becomes a sought after man.

Chance is kind of a Forrest Gump figure except this isn't that funny at all. This is a slow quietly quirky movie. Peter Sellers delivers a very deliberate and mannered performance. The main difference between Chance and Gump is an inherent goodness in Gump. Chance is more of a blank canvas that the other characters sees as their reflections. It's just not quite as effective. It's an interesting performance but not necessarily a compelling one. As for the politics, it felt very simplistic. The film may be trying to deliver some insights but I don't think it's as insightful as it wants to be.

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8 /10

He Liked to Watch

I was amazed after all those Pink Panther films, what a wonderful actor Peter Sellers was. This allows him to stretch himself. He is Chauncy Gardner, a man suddenly bereft of his existence, out on his own. His simplistic view of the world is based on the television that he watches endlessly when he is not doing his job. There is the wonderful scene where he is mugged and he uses his remote control to try to get rid of the muggers. The script gently moves him into a tremendous position of power he doesn't even understand, and yet it keeps him dignified, not a comic buffoon, as he may have been portrayed today. Even when the chariots come crashing down, he has that gentle soul. What we get with him is the genuine article and since he didn't know to exploit, he can't really be seen as anything but the soulful fellow he is. Excellent portrayal of a character.

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admirable work

Chance is the best role of Peter Sellers. it is the conclusion that I formulate every occasion I revisit this film. because it is little more than a masterpiece. it is example of impeccable performance and realistic portrait of every day realities. it is a touching parable about innocence and politic, power and wisdom. about hypocrisy. and about kindness. short, one of the magnificent supports for discover the real side of life purpose. bitter and nostalgic, seductive and useful, Being There seems be an open window to yourself. sure, it is easy, maybe necessary, to evoke the genius of Peter Sellers. but it is not exactly only a remarkable performance. it is something who reminds the roles of Chaplin . a form of manifesto. a return to the essential simplicity. and this does Bbeing There an unique film.

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7 /10

I like to watch

Director Hal Ashby looked like an unlikely guy to be hitting the heights of 1970s counterculture cinema but he somehow managed it.

Being There were the last major work from him as director. It was almost the last film from Peter Seller's who gives an Oscar nominated performance. He died a few months after the film's release.

Seller's plays Chance a simple minded middle aged gardener in a rich man's townhouse in Washington. He cannot read or write, the maid fed him and looked after him. When the wealthy benefactor dies he is turfed out on to the streets. We have no idea how he came into this household. He could had been the old man's son or some stray who he just took care of. He tended the garden, watched television and no provision for his well being was made after the old man's death.

After wandering the streets aimlessly Chance is accidentally hit by a limousine carrying Eve (Shirley Maclaine) who takes him home to be examined by their doctor who is already looking after her wealthy dying husband Ben (Melvyn Douglas.)

Impressed by his wardrobe, which is basically his master's vintage clothes they come to realise that he is someone down on his luck, a businessman brought low in hard times and ask him to stay at the house.

Chance is a man of few words, he likes to watch television. The only thing he knows about is gardening. After talking to the President who is visiting Ben where in essence he talks about the seasons he comes across as some wise sage when the President repeats his words to the media.

His simple answers to complex problems makes him a media personality who takes it all seriously, the rest of the film is Chance being put into various potentially embarrassing positions where you think he would be found out, such as a television talk show or a reception with the high and mighty and no one suspects that he is a simpleton (although Chance might be Autistic.)

Director Hal Ashby made political films, this is a political satire and a perceptive one. This is about elites and how they get taken in by folksy charm and also dispense it to the rest of us in the most cynical way. How else can one explain the popularity of the likes of Rush Limbaugh with the right whingers. Ben when he dies is buried in a pyramid like tomb with an eye. A symbol of the Illuminati I believe.

Sellers is spot on as Chance, he plays his character with one note, but it is the right note. None of the over the top histrionics he was known for in his comedy parts. I am glad that he went out on a high. However director Hal Ashby should not be forgotten for crafting a simple but intelligent film.

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9 /10

Far Before "Forrest Gump" .., Chauncey Gardner

The slow and illiterate gardener Chance (Peter Sellers) has spent all his life inside the house of Mr. Jennings in a poor area of Washington D.C. His only contact with the outside world was through television. When Mr. Jennings dies, the house is shut-down by the family lawyer and Chance is forced to leave the place. While wandering on the streets, a limousine hits his leg and the owner, Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine), invites him to go to her house to be treated by her husband's doctor and avoid any trouble in the hospital. She misunderstands his name and calls him Chauncey Gardner. When the simple Chance is introduced to her husband, Benjamin Rand (Melvyn Douglas), that is terminally ill with anemia, he becomes his friend and Ben interprets his wordings as metaphoric, transforming Chance in adviser of President Bobby (Jack Warden) and prominent figure in the world of economy and politics.

I must confess that this is the first time that I watch "Being There" and my first thought was that "Forrest Gump" is visibly inspired in this movie. Peter Sellers is once again fantastic in the role of a man that does not know that he does not know and therefore is capable to achieve everything. The forty-five years old Shirley MacLaine is still an extremely beautiful and seductive woman in this film. Melvyn Douglas has a top-notch performance in this movie, unfortunately one of his last movies. Jack Warden is hilarious in the role of an annoying president. The situations are surrealistic but seem to be realistic, and indeed it is a great joke with politicians and their cynical world. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Muito Além do Jardim" ("Far Beyond the Garden")

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8 /10

Shoebox - light as a feather

Not everyone can be above things ... pun not intended. If you read the name Peter Sellers and expect this to be a comedy ... well don't hold your breath! Seriously you better don't ... even if there is a very weird outtake being shown during the credits ... a scene that went wrong because Peter Sellers couldn't keep it together. Which is fun to watch for sure, but sort of the complete opposite of the movie you just watched.

And what that means? This is a movie about a very mysterious character who is a subtle character and not very outspoken. The story of him coming to the city and finding a place to work ... this is really tough to wrap your head around. Very mystical (see the ending too, which I reckon is suggesting quite a lot) and really tough to crack. And maybe therefor also quite loved. Not for anyone who wants a straight shooter movie. No pun intended no real shooting occurs either. Great actors all around and very sublime and low toned performances too ... who would have thought?

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8 /10

"He IS different, isn't he?"

Warning: Spoilers

This is one of the better send-ups of snobbery and elitism you're likely to come across, particularly when it comes to those who think they're better than the rest of us common folk. It just goes to show you how clueless those in the power structure can be when they're consistently bedeviled by moronic platitudes that pass for wisdom. I see, I understand; by the time this was over I think old Dr. Allenby (Richard Dysart) figured out what was going on with our hero Chauncey Gardiner (Peter Sellers). I don't know that I'm buying the idea that someone could actually grow up this way, even if sheltered for an entire lifetime. But it was a good premise and starting point to examine what might happen to a hapless individual with minimal contact with the outside world. I'll say one thing for this viewer though, I've never seen Shirley MacLaine in a role where she actually looked as stunning as she did here. One thing I'm definitely not buying is the idea that old Chauncey didn't perk up (if you know what I mean) at the sight of Eve Rand coming on to him like a steamroller in heat. That was one time Chauncey should have displayed his gift of being natural.

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7 /10

Funny

Chance, a simple gardener, has never left the estate until his employer dies. His simple TV-informed utterances are mistaken for profundity.

Peter Sellers is both lovable and annoying, but in the most perfect way. He stumbles along, innocent, with everyone finding deep meaning where there is none. As an outside viewer, I find this frustrating and want to slap him upside the head. He speaks in a choppy, childish manner. But this was the part, and while I may not like Chance, I think Sellers soars.

And I never get enough of Melvyn Douglas. Never. I need more of him in my life. He seems to be typecast as the wealthy elder (at least in his later years). But he nails that role, so I cannot complain. Shirley MacLaine is also great... as always. The grandpa from "Problem Child" is here, too, in his best role ever.

The inclusion of such television staples as Basketball Jones, Mister Rogers, Price is Right and more really fleshes out the film. What does it say about children raised on television? I am not sure, maybe nothing. Chance is rare case, of someone who knows nothing else. I believe that a real person would fare better in the real world than they show Chance doing, though he is also rather stupid. So, it would be hard to decide.

The film is something of a precursor to "Forrest Gump", in that a foolish man just happens to be in the right places ("being there") at the right time. How they managed to get a PG with all the foul language is beyond me, but I suspect it was because this predates the PG-13 rating and is not nearly rough enough for an R.

By far my favorite part was watching the government scramble to find out more on Chauncey Gardiner. And now I want to know what Krylov's fables are...

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9 /10

being everywhere

There have been many existential stories, but few so interesting as "Being There". It stars Peter Sellers in his last role of note, as mentally retarded gardener Chance, who occasionally utters what he heard on TV. After his employer dies, he wonders the city and eventually gets picked up by wealthy Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas, who won Best Supporting Actor) and his wife Eve (Shirley MacLaine). As the movie progresses, two things become apparent: Chance's comments - which he himself doesn't really understand - get interpreted by everyone as deep philosophical statements, and the Rands are not really living as they want.

If nothing else, this movie underscores how talented the three stars are, and what a great director Hal Ashby was (he also directed such greats as "Harold and Maude", "The Last Detail", "Shampoo", "Bound for Glory" and "Coming Home"). Peter Sellers is as keen here as he was as Insp. Clouseau or in "Dr. Strangelove". When Shirley MacLaine made her debut back in the '50s, who ever would have guessed that she would eventually, uh, play with herself in a movie? And Melvyn Douglas certainly deserved his Oscar. A great, existential flick.

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8 /10

Being There

Warning: Spoilers

Based on the best selling novel by Jerzy Kosinski, this is a terrific story. I used to think his best role was Inspector Jacques Clouseau, but that was until I saw him in this film, Peter Sellers as Chance - Chauncey Gardiner is superb. He was nominated for an Oscar and BAFTA, but he did win a Golden Globe for his extraordinary performance of a man who spent all his life at home not reading, not writing, having meals made for him, and all his learning comes from television. He also has a keen interest in gardening, which is what confuses people to believe his surname is Gardiner. Basically when going out of the house, for once, Chance is injured by a car belonging to Eve Rand (BAFTA nominated Shirley MacLaine), daughter of dying Benjamin Turnbull Rand (Melvyn Douglas in his second Oscar winning role, also won a Golden Globe). He lives with this family and immediately has people talking about how considerate and understanding he is, but he obviously hardly has a clue what's going on. He even meets the United States President, 'Bobby' (Jack Warden) in the process. Also starring Richard A. Dysart as Dr. Robert Allenby. Filled with both funny and touching moments, and a good representation of how near idiocy can help others, this is great. It won the BAFTA for Best Screenplay, and it was nominated for Best Film, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Director for Hal Ashby, Best Screenplay and Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical. Peter Sellers was number 57 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, he was number 22 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, he was number 7 on Britain's Finest Actors, and he was number 24 on The World's Greatest Actor, and the film was number 26 on 100 Years, 100 Laughs. Very good!

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7 /10

Amusing Fantasy.

Warning: Spoilers

"Let me begin by quoting Ben himself. 'I have no use for people on welfare but if I am to be perfectly honest with myself, they probably have no use for me.'" Jack Warden, as the President of the United States, is giving this apopemptic eulogy at the funeral of his criminally rich old conservative friend, Melvin Douglas.

"I have spoken with kings, but every time I have met one, I have asked myself some important questions. Can I beat him in a foot race? Can I throw a ball farther than he?. . . What does a man need? A good bowl of chili now and then. . . We enter life naked and that's how we leave. And no accountant can audit life in our favor." Warden goes on with this ill-crafted, anger-ridden speech while the pall bearers in their glossy million-dollar shoes carry Douglas' casket to its final resting place. They whisper among themselves about whom they will run for president at the end of Warden's term and they decide on Chance, the Gardener, Peter Sellers, whose name they believe to be Chauncey Gardener. The decision is reached in front of the tomb itself. The tomb is a monument to human vanity, greed, and maniacal egocentricity -- a replica of the pyramid on the back of the dollar bill with the all-seeing eye at the top. The motto under which this rabid materialist will lie is "Life is a State of Mind."

The problem with their plan to run Chance for president, although no one knows it despite his national exposure, is that Chance is a total idiot. He was raised by a man in an isolated mansion and has now been thrown out after the old man's death. He knows absolutely nothing except a smattering of things he's learned from watching TV programs at random. Oh, and he knows about gardening. Politically he's a joke, but the difficulty with political jokes is that they sometimes get elected.

It's not an especially logical fantasy so it doesn't deserve too much in the way of analysis. You could drive a semi through many of the plot holes, and improbabilities abound.

But it's funny, at times very funny, and sad as well. Peter Sellers is fine as the slow, mysterious, and ingratiating friend of the Rand family and Melvyn Douglas is occasionally moving as the arthritic, dying robber baron, being wheeled about the Biltmore Mansion in North Carolina, wheezing and railing about taxes. Shirley MacClaine is Douglas' well-groomed and loving wife, thoughtful, sensitive, horny.

This was directed by Hal Ashby, not a prolific director but one with a touch for sophisticated irony. Here he does a splendid job, giving the film just the right pace. A viewer won't find many belly laughs but will smile quite a lot. The admirable photography is by Caleb Deschanel. Images have a burnished sheen, like old black mahogany that's been polished weekly for a hundred years.

But, as I say, you shouldn't expect one event to follow another linearly. It's not that kind of movie. The final shot leaves reality in the dust completely.

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7 /10

Terrific acting, infuriating plot

It takes a leap of faith to buy the pesky little plot device rattling around in "Being There". Peter Sellers is brilliantly controlled portraying a grown man with the intelligence of a seven-year-old who has worked all his life as a gardener for an elderly recluse, one who apparently took him in as a child but kept him from the outside world. After the old man dies and the house is taken over, Sellers' "Chauncey Gardiner" finds himself on his own for the very first time, but a trick of fate quickly puts him in the hands (and in the opulent home) of a powerful political couple. Chauncey has never ridden in a car, been to the doctor or the dentist--everything he knows apart from gardening comes from television, and television incarnate continually butts into the framework of this premise. Director Hal Ashby doesn't want us to miss anything, and so every ironic point is underlined with clips of inane TV commercials and programs (or, in one irritating case, an animated video that looks like the Harlem Globetrotters). Chauncey is accepted rather too easily into the home of Melvyn Douglas (Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor) and his beaming, twittering wife (Shirley MacLaine, in great form); but, in order for this whole idea to work, the characters have to--at one point or another--behave rather unrealistically. The film rests on its polite, genteel outlandishness, yet Ashby seems to think he's scoring points against Washington, D.C. society, setting them up as fools, while also using his scenario as a microcosm for all America. Heady stuff for what is basically a satire of the shallowness at large in humanity. The baffling, amusing final shot leaves itself open to interpretation and, indeed, "Being There" has been debated by many resilient minds. Yet one must wonder if the picture warrants such serious examination. *** from ****

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The great Peter Sellers in one of his best roles.

Warning: Spoilers

So, 30 years after its release I finally get to see this movie. Quite unusual. Also quite slow in parts, I kept wishing that the editing had been a bit crisper.

Peter Sellers plays a very simple adult man simply named Chance. He had been born and raised entirely within the confines of the home of a wealthy man in Washington D.C. He became the gardener for the grounds, and his favorite non-gardening activity was watching TV. His whole concept of other people and the outside world was from what he saw on TV.

But then his patriarch dies, the old black maid leaves, but Chance only knows one thing, that he lives there, he has his own room, and he has access to all the clothes in the attic which happen to fit him perfectly. (This becomes important later as government officials try to track down his history and find all his clothes were made long before Chance could have been born.) So, as the property is being liquidated Chance is told he has to leave, so with tophat and suitcase, off he wanders, the first time off the grounds. When he gets hungry he stops a black woman on the street and says "I'm hungry, can I have my dinner?"

All that is background to understand who this character Chance is. After a minor accident in the street he is taken in by an even more wealthy and powerful man, Mr Rand, who meets regularly with the President. In a noisy exchange when Chance tells them he is "the gardener" they mistake his name for "Chauncy Gardener." They further mistake his simplistic thoughts about plants and gardening for profound statements about the economy and Presidential decisions.

Shirley MacLaine has a key role as the wealthy man's much younger wife Eve Rand. Melvyn Douglas is Benjamin Turnbull 'Ben' Rand. Jack Warden is President 'Bobby', and Richard Dysart is Dr. Robert Allenby, Mr Rand's personal physician.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW: Mr Rand dies, and during his funeral the men talk about Chance and his possible role to replace Rand as a "maker of kings." At the very end we see Chance wander off and begin to walk on the water of a lake. It isn't totally clear what this means but a plausible explanation is an allegory, that when you are simple like Chance you don't know what "limitations" are, and most of us as adults focus too much on what we think the limitations are.

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10 /10

a biting black comedy of a detached character in a particular state of mind

Being There will get you thinking about what it means to be taken in by television, as well as the government, and the better (or lesser) intentions of people in power, and works on more than one level. It's a pure slice of oddball life, the story of a man who got more than likely tucked away into some kind of perfunctory manner by the only things in life with any significance being television and gardening. No more or less. How does one end up living out in the world, however, if this is all there is for the span of a long life?

Jerzy Kosinski's idea is to place this fragmented, polite but assuredly clueless fellow where double standards rule the day. He meets a businessman after a limo accident, and by his outward appearance seeming to fit a certain mold he takes him in. The man is connected in his dealings, all the way up to the president, as an adviser. All Chance (Peter Sellers) can do is say what he knows- not only does he not know lies or how to lie, he's been sort of conditioned, in a way, to not fully comprehend good and evil either. But his words carry meaning, somehow, and he becomes a celebrity all the while not really connected to what's going on. Rarely before has detachment and the subtleties of the human condition been this engaging.

There are three major factors for this, which is the control of wit and truth in the screenplay by Kosinski, who won't go for the cheapest laughs or too mocking in satirical form, but in the moments of dead-pan exchange and the bluntness of Chance's character. Sellers, of course, is at the very top of his game, and that's a first factor, along with the rest of the excellent cast (MacClaine is maybe at her best, as I've not seen too much that wowed me until now; Douglass gives a compassionate performance that speaks to the issue of illness and the end of existence; Warden is surprisingly adept at playing a flabbergasted, weak-willed president).

He leads it as if going for something that seems like it shouldn't be interesting. It's a guy who doesn't really have much expression, aside from some bits of joy, like meeting the president, or in becoming (somewhat) part of MacClaine's character's love-life, or in seeing someone die. But even then it's a muted, half-way expression, and the repression that Sellers makes real here is staggering. The term 'comfortably numb' popped in my head once or twice regarding Chance the gardener, and Sellers makes this as real as possible, and sometimes as funny as possible, but for the most part it's his most mature work where there isn't any cheating- what you see, with his mind transmogrified by TV forever- is what you get.

Ashby, meanwhile, makes this a very successfully directed film by putting a tone to the picture that is not really like the Chance character because you want to see where he goes next. He'll put in a sequence that is hysterically funny, like when Chance is in the limo watching the Cheech and Chong bit Basketball Jones, or in Chance's reaction to pure sexual advances from MacClaine, or in several little things. But he also makes it on a bedrock of a level of plausibility, at least in some part. It's doubtful if a man would have this sort of effect on a mass public, once appearing in public anyway, and have his words 100% to heart, because there would be over-analysis and eventually a crack in the whole character's intent that gardening tactics are universal.

And yet it's even more plausible, however, to see what effect words do have when taken out of context AS the context, and how perceptions in America create more than what one might bargain for, and eventually become a mantra of sorts. That Chance also is quite a dim fellow- not a dimwit exactly, he's not necessarily stupid- brings some extra resonance in the political swamp of today.

Ashby times all of this as though he were certain when to just let the everyday come in as something more. He puts in great musical choices, and a few very memorable images (I loved the shot of Chance walking on the middle-road to the Capital building), and crowns it with a screenplay that doesn't, unlike TV for Chance, take things too simple. Not that there isn't almost a silent-film whimsy to this all, but there's so much to Being There that it will stick with you for many days afterwords.

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9 /10

Peter Sellers gave perhaps the performance of his career in Being There

tavm 17 February 2016

After 30 or so years of only reading about this movie, I finally watched this with Mom on Netflix disc. She wasn't convinced this was a comedy at first during the beginning scenes but commented how weird it was becoming and did laugh a few times as did I. She also commented on the resemblance of Chance the gardener to Tom Hanks' Forrest Gump in characterization. Beforehand, I read Peter Sellers based his interpretation of Chance on Stan Laurel and I can see that. It's quite a performance to watch seeing many familiar Stan-like mannerisms in Sellers. I also liked seeing many of the other characters react to him especially Shirley MacLaine's and Melvyn Douglas' who won his second Oscar for this role. Sellers also was nominated but lost to Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer. Comparing the two, I probably would give it to Hoffman though Peter is definitely a close second. Anyway, the political satire is quite timely, even today. So on that note, I highly recommend Being There.

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8 /10

***

Warning: Spoilers

Believe it or not, the film seems to lag when Shirley MacLaine, as Eve, appears on the screen. While it is true that MacLaine is supposed to be the much younger wife of the dying magnate Melvyn Douglas, her scene screen chemistry with Peter Sellers, fabulous in the lead role, leaves a lot to be desired.

The central theme of the film is that simplicity is often the solution to our very most urgent problems.

Is it that all the characters in this movie are much more naive than the Sellers character?

As the principled wealthy man, with a kind heart, Douglas copped a best supporting actor Oscar. Truthfully, I don't know why.

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5 /10

Peter Sellers IS Chance

In amongst all the 'Pink Panther' films Peter Sellers made quite possibly the film of his career - Being There.

He really is on top form in his role as Chance, and completely becomes the character. In what really is a simple story Sellers steals every scene and we as an audience really grow to love his character.

The ending itself gets a lot of attention, but there are so many other strong moments in a film I was amazed to learn Sellers didn't win any major awards for.

Apart from a unneeded moment with Shirley McLaine's character that rather cheapens this this is a solid film, and one that every Peter Sellers fan should see.

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TeeVee Politics

tedg 19 August 2007

Wow.

There are several reasons to watch this. One is to see Shirley's masturbation scene. It was shocking in its day I think. But what's interesting about it is how it was copied by Nichole Kidman in "Moulin Rouge."

Another good thing is the already quaint notions about TeeVee. These were days when there was absolutely no notion that TeeVee was anything but useless, and that watching even a little bit was a sort of trailer park activity. And these were the days before we had a president that if not stupid, speaks as if he is. Sorta takes the edge off this in present terms, but it provokes a kind of sad nostalgia that things would have changed in such a way that the satire here is completely gone. Its as if Lilliputians were my new neighbors.

There's also some very strong staging here, very strong indeed. One scene in particular has two men walking in this fine, rich house, framed in a very precisely architectural way. A long lens flattens the depth. Two servants slowly follow them with wheelchairs at the ready. Its a shot everyone should know.

I have a list of films that are so important or groundbreaking that you really must see them before you die. Everyone probably has a similar list. But no one I know has a list of scenes. Perhaps the movie as a whole isn't wholly transcendent, but some scene is, or some property like an extraordinary set or design.

I wonder why it is that we don't have someone like Peter Sellers today. No Robin Williams, Peter Carey or Steve Martin, none of our race comedians, are anything close. The particular quality I mean is the ability to have a conversation with the audience about the character without the overt winking and theatrics that others who can connect this way do.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

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7 /10

Political simpletons are always the best.

Being There is a tough sell to a first time viewer, incredibly slow and surprisingly sad, it's a film that is thought of quite high yet very rarely mentioned. The story sees a simple minded gardener called Chance forced to go it alone in the big wide world after working and living at the same estate all his life, his employer has passed away, and all looks bleak until he is involved in a minor accident.In the car that hit his leg is the kindly Eve Rand, taking him home to the family estate for treatment, Eve and her ill husband, Ben, take him to their hearts, and pretty soon Chance's dry and simple speakings are being taken out of context and thought of as deeply profound political and world observations.

That's about all you need to know as regards the plot, it's a wonderfully scripted tale about the infinite wisdom of a simpleton who is, lets face it, oblivious to the world around him. The writing is excellent from Jerzy Kosinski (his novel as well) with the capable direction from Hal Ashby benefiting from sumptuous photography courtesy of Caleb Deschanel. But it's with the cast that Being There most triumphs, Peter Sellers had actively pursued the project for many years, and his wait was worth it for he turns in a performance unlike anything he had done before, definitely a career high as he holds all in the palm of his hand as the intriguingly sad protagonist, Chance. He unluckily lost out to Dustin Hoffman (Kramer Vs Kramer) for the best actor Oscar. Shirley MacLaine is marvellous as the sex starved Eve Rand, while Melvyn Douglas bagged the best supporting actor Oscar for his portrayal of the fading away Benjamin Rand.

So technically the film is spot on, and it's thematic heart is one to be involved with on a basic emotional level, yet you just get a sense of being bogged down entering the final quarter, the feeling that this should have been cut down to a 110 minute movie maximum. It's highly recommended cinema for those serious about the structure side of the craft, whilst those in need of a simpleton fable are certainly well catered for, and thankfully it's memorable for all the right reasons. 7/10

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9 /10

Elegant and Charming Satire with a Soft Spell

Seductive and Sedate, this Elegant Comedy of the Mind and Spirit is one of those Movies that presses the receptors in the Brain of the Viewer and different Interpretations are Inspired. Much like the way that the People who encounter "Chance Gardener" on screen React to His Presence.. It seems that the Character just "Being There" is Enough for Profound Insights and Inspiration.

Like a Christ or Buddha figure, His Power Transcends the Obvious and is removed from the Everyday way We Perceive Life, Language, and the World We Live in..."Life is a state of mind.", so to speak.

Peter Seller's laid back Performance Personifies the Soft Spoken Meditative Message of the Movie. The Script was Written by the Book's Author (Jerry Kazinski) and the Direction by Hal Ashby combine to offer Seller's a chance to Play Against Type and Finish His Career with a Swan Song Worth Remembering.

The Supporting Cast of Shirley MaClaine, Melvyn Douglas and others all seem on the Same Wavelength and Channel the Sensibilities with a Unified Persuasion.

Overall, a Movie for Certain Tastes, Won over Critics but Audiences are Divided. The Film can either Charm by its Understatement and Soft Cell or Bore and Turn Off Viewers and for some the Reaction can have one Reaching for the Remote.

Note…If you find the Movie Spellbinding, turn it off immediately when the End Credits begin.

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5 /10

Being Bored

I really looked forward to seeing this. I thought the premise sounded interesting and clever. Unfortunately, it's never as good as I hoped it would be. It's slow-going and, dare I say it, often boring. The performances are all good. I certainly respect the patience it must have taken Peter Sellers to craft this role. But it doesn't take long before Sellers is telegraphing all his punches and you realize this is a one-joke movie. I never laughed out loud, only chuckling at a few early scenes. Sadly, the movie outlasted my patience and I was done with it long before the much-praised final scene. Like the rest of the movie, that is also overrated. This is just one man's opinion and this film certainly has a lot of fans but I found it to be a little pretentious and dull for a comedy. If you want laughs, watch The Jerk instead.

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7 /10

Has a Cult Following That Doesn't Include Me

This movie just didn't click with me.

I very much like Hal Ashby's films, and I like this one as well, but the love it has received as a cult classic gives me that uncomfortable feeling I sometimes get about movies that I've missed something obvious everyone else can see. Ashby's tone for the film is quiet, gentle and whimsical -- much like the main character played by Peter Sellers -- but that's the problem: it's all TOO quiet, gentle and whimsical, and I found myself fighting drooping eyelids.

But I have the nagging suspicion that this is a film I should revisit and would probably build an appreciation for on subsequent viewings.

Grade: B

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8 /10

The Fool In The Garden

Warning: Spoilers

As someone who always rated The Fool On The Hill as one of The Beatles strongest songs, Being There comes close to putting the gentle but deep thoughts embodied in the lyric on screen.

On looking back through Peter Sellers' filmography, while his talent was never in doubt, the vehicles he chose for displaying it were wildly disparate and, for the most part, sadly below the level of Sellers the talent (although, possibly, rather above the level of Sellers the person).

Being There is nearly his last film and, as such, the best career epitaph he could have. So seldom embracing the philosophy that Less is More, he does so here, and the effect is devastating. Chance the gardener is a creation of depth and pathos. Sellers went out on a high.

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