Review of Being There (1979) by Jamie T — 23 Apr 2011

"Life is a state of mind." With these words, and a remarkable, ambiguous image, BEING THERE ends. It begins in a similarly ambiguous fashion: Chance (Peter Sellers), a simple-minded gardener, is told that the old man for whom he works, and in whose house he has lived his whole life, has died, and he is ultimately sent out into the world with a change of clothes and a TV remote. He finds his way into the home of Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas), a dying billionaire and political mover and shaker who is immediately taken by the serene Chance, as is his wife Eve (Shirley MacLaine). Chance (mistakenly dubbed "Chauncey Gardiner" due to a misunderstanding) soon is rubbing shoulders with the President (Jack Warden), whom he impresses with his gardening-related wisdom, which is taken to be an allegory for the country's political troubles. He soon becomes a nationwide celebrity, all the while remaining blissfully unaware of the guru status he has attained.

Such an idea would collapse without a virtuoso performance in the role of Chance, and Sellers delivers; he earned wide praise for his performance here, and his death less than a year after BEING THERE's release cut short what seemed to be a second renaissance for his career. Chance must be completely seamless in his nature, and moments like the one early on where Chance responds to a street tough's threats by trying to "change" the situation with his remote exemplify his unique nature. Sellers never overplays his hand, giving Chance just enough warmth to make him sympathetic, while maintaining a veil of aloofness. He's truly winning.

MacLaine is equally good, and Eve's growing love for Chance, which could come off as absurd, is instead very touching; MacLaine has an air of intelligent ambiguity not which makes her Eve the perfect fit for Sellers' Chance. Melvyn Douglas won an Oscar for his role as Ben Rand, and while I don't really see what the Academy saw in the role (especially since he was up against Robert Duvall in APOCALYPSE NOW), he does just fine. Jack Warden, as the President, doesn't really have much to do (a brief subplot suggests the stress of his job has led to impotence; this is completely extraneous), while Richard Dysart rounds out the main cast nicely as Ben's doctor--the only person in the Rand household who suspects Chance is not what they make him out to be.

Hal Ashby's direction is a bit sluggish, and at 130 minutes, the film is a good 20 minutes too long; there are a few too many scenes of people mistaking Chance for a wise man, or of people trying, vainly, to uncover the background of "Chauncey Gardiner". The film has some nice, painterly images, courtesy of Caleb Deschanel, but the pacing makes the going a bit tough at times--surprising, given that Ashby was a former editor. The script was adapted by Jerzy Kosinski and Robert C. Jones from Kosinski's novella, and despite the clever premise and solid dialogue, there is a bit too much fat here.

Despite overlength, BEING THERE is a beguiling film which gives Peter Sellers one of his best showcases, and never jabs too sharply with its satire. It's a perfect film to unwind with when action and adventure don't fit the bill.