Being There
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Movie Reviews of Being There
Movie Review: Excellent Satire - Incredible Acting from Peter Sellers
Summary: 5 Stars
This film came out in 1979 and seems to get better every year. It is the bizarre story of a blank slate of a gardner who literally has never been outside of the walls of a single house until he is in his 40s or 50s. The entire view of this man comes from watching television. The basic story is quite simple. As Chance the gardner is forced to leave the house he has lived in as a child, he is hit by a limosine transporting the wife of a dying plutocrat. Taken to the home of the plutocrat, he eventually meets the rich and powerful of the land (the president included)and is taken to be an oracle of wisdom with his simple statements about gardening and the television he has watched. It is a great satire that just keeps getting better as we rely more and more on soundbites for our information.
The best part of the film is Peter Sellers who plays this absolutely blank, innocent, and slow-witted person with complete aplomb. I remember an interview with Sellers when the movie came out, and he said it was a real struggle to develop an accent that had no roots at all -- a perfect blend of voices heard on television. He plays the movie absolutely straight, the comedy being how people react so seriously to his child-like comments. For example, in a television interview about the economy, people take his comments that "there is always growth in the spring" to mean an end to a recession when he is simply talking about his garden.
This is a unique film with lots and lots of subtle humor (no slapstick ala Clouseau). There are some very funny moments as people react to Peter Sellers, but the humor always comes back to how we choose to see the world. There is no deception of the part of the character of the gardner -- it is everybody else who plays the fool here.
This is a definitely a movie to own and to watch over and over. I know some people who have found it a bit slow, in that very little really happens -- it is almost a comedy of manners. It is a great memorial to Peter Sellers from one of his very last movies.
Movie Review: Life is a state of mind
Summary: 5 Stars
I would rather think of this movie not as dark comedy, though I am sure that would be the correct genre, but as enlightening comedy. "Life is a state of mind." So what kind of mind have you? We as the audience are invited in to see "Chance" as he is and then observe how everyone interprets him from their own perspective. On a practical level, knowing estimates of the mentally ill in my state range around 25%, it suggests how we may wrongly interpret those around us by universalizing our sense of everything and presupposing it is the sense of others too - without ever really finding out what they understand and how they intend what they say. It is clear to me from observing mentally ill people in conversation with those that do not understand the mental illness of the person they are speaking to just how accurately the movie depicts the results. In this sense, the movie is a training film for those who would work with the mentally ill and that should cover everyone! On another level the movie points out that as we see the world so it is. Life is a state of mind. But you can change your state of mind. When you change your state of mind you change your world. As invited guests into the mind of "Chance" we are offered the opportunity to elevate our mind to another level of perception. This level enables us to perceive the perspective of others and remove us from the box that was our own previous limit. This is a great teaching device for those who are attempting to show this to someone who is not aware of the technique - having never done it before. The movie shows them they can do it and should.
Further, the movie is commentary and suggestion. I fail to see that the interpretation is forced. Interpret the last scene as you will - it still drives home the thesis just blatantly depicted on the Rand Memorial "Life is a state of mind" also repeated for emphasis by the presidential remarks. The movie leaves it up to the viewer to interpret the depth of this thesis.
This is a great movie and very useful.
Movie Review: Innocence Triumphant
Summary: 5 Stars
Jerzy Kosinski's book Being There is dark farce; the movie Being There is gnostic gospel. That is, the movie transforms darkness into Light.
As the plot unfolds, we settle comfortably into our own stereotypes: We're watching a sweet but dim-witted man innocently get the better of his betters. But when the movie ends, we see with mild shock our perceptions were as jaded and cynical as the foolish people surrounding the "dim-witted" man. We never realized we were in the presence of spiritual majesty, a living miracle. The movie thus compels us to see our own unseen cynicism.
And what makes this even more humorous is some people do not even seem to "get" this on having watched the film. They somehow consider profound ignorance as capable of making miracles happen.
(Plot spoiler below... You may wish to stop here unless you've watched the film.)
The walking on water scene - the miracle - at the film's close is the essence of what separates this Peter Sellers film from the Jerzy Kosinski novel. The closing scene was a master stroke.
Being There, because of its sweetness and humor and innocence and profundity, is one of my favorite films. It was Peter Sellers' final performance, and his performance is pure genius. For example, try to name one other film in which adultery actually IS innocent. It isn't easy. But it is very easy to fall in love with the soul of this film.
And unlike the book - which leaves a poor warped innocent doomed to disgrace in an unsustainable social impasse - the film delivers a transcendent, triumphant Innocence. The film can speak to what is best in you, and remind you of the simple dignity of being humble, and being human.
If you have not seen Being There, or wish to buy a wonderful present for someone who enjoys kind humor and comedic genius, consider this my recommendation.
Movie Review: No One Reads
Summary: 5 Stars
In an age where we are seemingly governed by what flickers on the idiot box (reality tv anyone?) this movie is sadly still extremely relevant today. So what if everything you know was learned through watching television; what kind of person would you be? That is the lure of Being There (although by no means is it the entire movie). Peter Sellers (in a performance proving yet again how invalid the Academy Awards are in judging the "best" of anything) plays "Chance", a quiet gardener put out of work and home when his elderly employer dies. Not really all that harrowing until you realize "Chance" has no understanding of a world without commercial interruption or the convenience of changing the channel with a remote control.
The ability of mankind to see and hear what it wants is definitely the underlying theme to this film. When befriended by an ailing millionaire with extreme political influence "Chance's" every word is viewed by the media (and subsequently the world) as that of a philosophical genius. Everything "Chance" says is relevant to gardening which gives him the appearance of being steadfast in his philosophy.
It's very rare that a movie comes along with such amazing acting, writing, and direction. Peter Sellers gives the performance of a lifetime and I can't imagine anyone else ever playing "Chance" with more conviction or nuanced aplomb.
The script is amazing, providing a thought provoking introspection of our own assumptions of the everyday. The ending of this film is one of the best I've ever seen, as it makes you rethink every interaction and smile, because it all makes sense.
Being There is a must see film for anyone who is fed up with the vice grip television has on the world mindset and how we are more often than not misinformed and deluded with it's freely provided misconceptions.
"This is just like television, only you can see much further."
Movie Review: I don't WANT to be funny !
Summary: 5 Stars
While Dr. Strangelove is his best known performance and is arguably the funniest film ever made, Being There is Peter Sellers greatest perfomance.
Based on the Kosinski novel, Sellers stars as Chance the gardener at the estate of "the old man" who dies just before the film starts. Forced into the world by the estate lawyers who come to settle the old man's affairs, Chance must learn to live in the world beyond the walls of his garden. A simple man, all he knows about life in the real world is based on what he has seen on television. All Chance's reactions and observations are what he thinks he should be saying based on what characters have said in similar situations. Since he has, basically, the social comprehension of a small boy, he dosn't really understand what he is saying. Through a series of remarkable coincidences (Chances) he comes to the home of one of the most powerful men in the country and is introduced to the President of the United States.
Since Chance dosn't really understand the world he is thrust into, all he can do, again, is respond how he thinks he should. His simple honesty is viewed by those around him as subtle metaphor and his gardening advice becomes the cornerstone of the President's economic policy.
An allegorical tale, this film was Sellers' dream. He had to fight hard to get it made and eventually succeded. A perfectly serious performance, Sellers finally got to do what he always wanted, to be himself, a scared, confused man cught up in a world that dosn't really get him, existing only as an idea in other peoples' minds.
While the book is one of the greatest works of fiction of the twentieth century, Sellers' personal connection to and instant love of this character is truly remarkable and makes for one of the most bittersweet performances any actor has ever given.
Think I'm being melodramatic? Watch the film and see for yourself.