Hoffman
by Alvin Rakoff
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Peter Sellers, Ruth Dunning, Sinéad CusackDirector: Alvin Rakoff
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-01-21
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Movie Reviews of Hoffman
Movie Review: A soul-baring character study from the man who claimed he didn't know himself
Summary: 5 Stars
Along with Being There, Dr. Strangelove, a rarity called The Optimists and Lolita, this ranks among Peter Sellers' finest dramatic performances. As the story unfolds, fans who know Sellers only as Inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther films may wonder, even recoil, at his choice of this role. For, although Benjamin Hoffman is an ostensibly respected, successful businessman, at an emotional and personal level he is a desperate, devious and downright nasty guy who is blackmailing his secretary to spend a week in his bed. He hopes, anyway--and expects, for the purpose of a consummated union. As if the currency of his physical demands could satisfy his emotional bills.
Why, indeed, did Peter Sellers want us to care about this apparently despicable fellow? Why, as always, does he use humor to humanize and expose the vulnerability and sensitivity of this otherwise unlikable chap? Why does he want us to look deeper, to understand that beneath Hoffman's embittered surface lie hopes, dreams, a heart that was betrayed?
For years, Sellers claimed publicly that his own identity eluded him; that, if asked to play himself, he would not have the first idea how to do so. His choice of the role of Benjamin Hoffman is a resounding testament as close to an admission of self-perception as you're likely to find. I believe that he did recognize his own shortcomings, but he could only admit them to himself from the safe distance of a role.
In any case, this is a really beautiful performance from Sellers. How bold it must have been, by late 1960s standards, to portray with such depth the loneliness, desperation, borderline neurosis of a man facing middle age alone. The chemistry between Sellers and Sinead Cusack as the young and reluctant secretary is terrific. And as always, Sellers brings to bear his amazing insight into human frailty to make us laugh, to redeem this tortured soul, Hoffman.
If you're looking for a movie with something deeper than the technology-laden plots and superficially written characters we see all too often these days, have a look at this. The ending, albeit dreamily optimistic, is heartwarming and hopeful, and I think you'll find you do care about Hoffman.
Summary of Hoffman
Hoffman is an odd cross between There's a Girl in My Soup and The Collector and is clearly one of the few film projects Peter Sellers took seriously enough to work hard on. Secretary Miss Smith (Sinéad Cusack) is blackmailed by meek, middle-aged Mr. Hoffman (Sellers) into spending a week of domesticity with him in his flat, while she tells her fiancé (Jeremy "Boba Fett" Bulloch) that she's with her grandmother in Scarborough. At first, the tone is creepy as Cusack dreads the terrors of sharing a bed with Sellers, but it becomes more poignant as both characters learn to see each other as people. The script gives Sellers a lot of funny business, acid lines, and whimsical turns, but he plays Hoffman as a repressed soul half-ashamed of his attempts to be funny, telling genuinely good jokes as if he expects no one will laugh. Cusack, more interesting than expected, keeps up with her costar and almost makes the strangely upbeat last reel believable. --Kim NewmanSimilar DVD Movies
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