Review of Being There (1979) by Dave A — 02 Jul 2008

While Peter Sellers is rightfully acknowledged as a master a slapstick caricatures like Inspector Clouseau, his abilities as an actor capable of playing subtly complex multifaceted characters were vastly overlooked - and in the latter part of his life he was offered few roles which allowed him to express the true depths of his genius...

This film is an exception; it's hard to imagine a character further removed from Clouseau than Chance The Gardener, a simple man who has lived his whole life within a mansion and its garden; his only knowledge of the outside world is tv.

When his benefactor dies and he enters the outside world for the first time in middle age,by a series of coincidences he comes to be understood as a deeply philosophical man of great wisdom - eg. when he talks about the seasons with respect to gardening it is misunderstood to to be a deeply perceptive analogous reference with respect to economic cycles.

Most of the film appears to be a subtle comedy mocking the pretensions of both the rich and influential and the public at large, but there's a (controversial) surprise at the end... (which despite its Christian frame of reference is actually the most Taoist mainsteam cinema will ever get, acknowledging the philsophical virtues of "true nature" and simplicity).

A truely beautiful film...

(God, | didn't even mention Shirley Maclaine; she is magnificent in this...).