David O'ConnellBeing There
February 5th 2009 03:33
By the time he turned his attention to Being There in 1979, director Hal Ashby had already been responsible for at least two great 70's films in Harold and Maude (1971) and The Last Detail (1973). With Being There he was fortunate enough to acquire the services of Peter Sellers for a role that would not only be his penultimate screen appearance but one which would reveal another side to a man often regarded as a difficult and erratic comic genius.
Adapted by Jerzy Kosinski from his own novel, it’s the tale of a middle-aged man named Chance (Sellers). Possessing the simple mind of a child, he's never left the grounds of a wealthy employer’s estate, tending to the gardens there with devotion his entire life. He can’t read or write and has all his meals and needs met by a maid. He has one prominent fixation other than gardening: television, which he watches with a puerile sense of fascination, often absorbed by children’s shows or imitating the movements of the people who appear on screen.
A rude awakening comes when his employer, "the old man” dies, forcing him onto the streets of Washington for the first time. As implausible as this sounds the following scenes - accompanied by a brassy funk version of Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra from 2001: a Space Odyssey – provide some genuine laughs as Chance encounters black hoodlums for the first time and tells a random stranger on the street that he’s hungry before asking if she can get him some lunch!
When lightly struck by the driver of a wealthy woman, Eve (Shirley MacLaine), he’s ushered to her house with its private doctor in attendance for fear of adverse publicity. Eve’s husband is a dying, wealthy political mover and shaker, Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas) and before long Chance has ingratiated himself into the household and everyone in it. His silence is mistaken for wise meditation, his curious questioning for witty observation, his gardening advice for metaphorical allusions to the state of the world and its economy. Winning over Eve and Ben with the sense of purity and humbleness he projects, he provides only polite responses when spoken to.
Through his new friends Chance meets a range of famous and powerful figures, including the President himself (Jack Warden), and his infamy grows, even as reporters and government officials scramble to uncover background information on this curiously insubstantial figure, but to no avail (due to being misheard as Chauncey Gardener when, in a coughing fit, first introducing himself as Chance the Gardener to Eve!).
Sellers is extraordinary as this child in a man’s body; polite, inquisitive, he somehow glides through these encounters with people by projecting a persona through what he doesn’t say. It’s a skillfully judged fine line on which Kosinski projects this man’s endearingly sweet and gentle personality; Sellers, in a redefining role for him just a year before his death, creates inexplicable screen magic out of almost nothing and it leaves the impression of being his final masterstroke.
Increasing number of implausibilities aside - which do have a detrimental affect on the overall impact of the film – Being There will always be remembered for the work of its leading man, plagued so often by controversy and speculation off-screen. Here, in Chance, his genius shines through, even though there are times you want to strangle him in frustration - especially for his cluelessness in the face of Eve's amorous advances!
There's equally memorable support from a radiant MacLaine, who can’t help falling hard for her charmingly benign new friend and confidente, and Douglas as the dying benefactor and man of true integrity (winning an Oscar for his performance). In parts bittersweet drama, social satire, and absurdist comedy, Being There may be hampered by slightly outdated and overly-ambitious ideas but it's still a delight and well worth revisiting to see Sellers bring Chance to life all over again.
Adapted by Jerzy Kosinski from his own novel, it’s the tale of a middle-aged man named Chance (Sellers). Possessing the simple mind of a child, he's never left the grounds of a wealthy employer’s estate, tending to the gardens there with devotion his entire life. He can’t read or write and has all his meals and needs met by a maid. He has one prominent fixation other than gardening: television, which he watches with a puerile sense of fascination, often absorbed by children’s shows or imitating the movements of the people who appear on screen.
A rude awakening comes when his employer, "the old man” dies, forcing him onto the streets of Washington for the first time. As implausible as this sounds the following scenes - accompanied by a brassy funk version of Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra from 2001: a Space Odyssey – provide some genuine laughs as Chance encounters black hoodlums for the first time and tells a random stranger on the street that he’s hungry before asking if she can get him some lunch!
When lightly struck by the driver of a wealthy woman, Eve (Shirley MacLaine), he’s ushered to her house with its private doctor in attendance for fear of adverse publicity. Eve’s husband is a dying, wealthy political mover and shaker, Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas) and before long Chance has ingratiated himself into the household and everyone in it. His silence is mistaken for wise meditation, his curious questioning for witty observation, his gardening advice for metaphorical allusions to the state of the world and its economy. Winning over Eve and Ben with the sense of purity and humbleness he projects, he provides only polite responses when spoken to.
Peter Sellers as Chance the Gardener
Through his new friends Chance meets a range of famous and powerful figures, including the President himself (Jack Warden), and his infamy grows, even as reporters and government officials scramble to uncover background information on this curiously insubstantial figure, but to no avail (due to being misheard as Chauncey Gardener when, in a coughing fit, first introducing himself as Chance the Gardener to Eve!).
Sellers is extraordinary as this child in a man’s body; polite, inquisitive, he somehow glides through these encounters with people by projecting a persona through what he doesn’t say. It’s a skillfully judged fine line on which Kosinski projects this man’s endearingly sweet and gentle personality; Sellers, in a redefining role for him just a year before his death, creates inexplicable screen magic out of almost nothing and it leaves the impression of being his final masterstroke.
Chance in unfamiliar territory
Increasing number of implausibilities aside - which do have a detrimental affect on the overall impact of the film – Being There will always be remembered for the work of its leading man, plagued so often by controversy and speculation off-screen. Here, in Chance, his genius shines through, even though there are times you want to strangle him in frustration - especially for his cluelessness in the face of Eve's amorous advances!
There's equally memorable support from a radiant MacLaine, who can’t help falling hard for her charmingly benign new friend and confidente, and Douglas as the dying benefactor and man of true integrity (winning an Oscar for his performance). In parts bittersweet drama, social satire, and absurdist comedy, Being There may be hampered by slightly outdated and overly-ambitious ideas but it's still a delight and well worth revisiting to see Sellers bring Chance to life all over again.
Chance mixing with the elite alongside Eve (Shirley MacLaine)
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Comment by Teresa Ralton
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Comment by David O'Connell
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It stands up well, though the very last scene is a peculiar, almost unworldly one. When you see it again you'll know what I'm referring to - it's certainly open to debate as to what it means.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I love the outtakes at movie's end - although on some prints of the film you don't get these - of Sellers trying to get the his lines right when he's at the hospital. Hilarious.
Comment by Janet Collins
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Comment by David O'Connell
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It's funny the association Chance makes when he encounters the lone black hired hand at the mansion and asks him in all seriousness, "Do you know Rafael?"
Janet and Chris - hope you both get to see it again very soon!