Review of Being There (2011) by Issac L — 07 Feb 2014

The great but problematic late comedian Peter Sellers penultimate film, which honors him an Oscar nomination and a second BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR win for the legendary Melvyn Douglas. Directed by veteran Hal Ashby and adapted by Jerzy Kosinski from his own novel, BEING THERE starts out as a farcical chimera, Chance (Sellers), is a middle-aged simpleton, a gardener who has been detached from the outside world for his entire life, and whose only recreation is watching television, after his employee's decease, he is coerced to leave the building and face the unknown territory, and satirically, his fate dramatically alters when an accident leads him to bump into Eve (MacLaine), the wife of a wealthy but terminally ill business and political magnate Benjamin Rand (Douglas).

Chance's distinct address, half-beat slower but concise, devoid of self-consciousness, over-calculation and circumlocution, plus a genteel comportment and soothing tone, earns him the trust of Ben and the passion from Eve. Ben is invigorated by his company and Eve is totally smitten with his innately deadpan sex appeal. Step by step it feels not like a ludicrous chimera anymore, Chance (now known as Chauncey Gardiner) meets the USA president Bobby (Warden) and is quoted by him to recoup the confidence of a sluggish economy, appears as a key guest on talk show, attends banquet with Russian ambassador (Basebart, his last big screen appearance), stirs a media craze for his zero-background anomaly, while America goes cuckoo for him, even seriously considers him as a perfect candidate for the next presidency, the coda hints us with a walking-on-water masterstroke to overturn our perceived opinion of Chance, a true godsend vs. a serendipitous irony (what about the Star Wars theme song playing when Chance steps into our society for the first time?)?

Either way, Sellers injects magnificent dynamics and humor into the film, being perennially entrapped within the personification of an unworldly figure, a reluctant intoner, an illiterate whose taciturnity and remarks of horticulture is misconstrued as metaphor with profound sagacity, he never loose his equanimity, and the droll interaction with MacLaine, the libido-driven young matriarch, who thrills in finding an irresistible mate to live on when her senile husband is in extremes, is a wonderful treat for viewers. MacLaine oozes fabulous verve with her not-seen-very-often comedic bent, her self-gratification sequence is wackily idiotic but utterly hilarious. Melvyn Douglas is benign and gullible in eliciting agreeable sympathy in the farewell stage of a lengthy career, his Oscar victory may be a fruition out of Oscar's episodic respect to the elderly, it is more vicarious for the majority voters around the same age. Jack Warden's mockery of president Bobby's impotency comes on a bit too risqué as the first lady is explicitly needy and cannot stop grope him. Anyone sense a whiff of sexism? or even racism? The biggest loose end is Louise (Attaway), the black maid who knows the real identity of Chance, is portrayed horrendously as a hammy dissenter and never has any chance to be a true game-changer, so if Chance is really a godsend, and he must be sent by a god with a pair of colored eye-glasses, and don't even let me start on the cringeworthy homosexual slur.

It is simply pitiful that the film is Sellers' last knock on the Academy's door for recognition, he would kick the bucket one year later at the age of 54 and one year earlier than Douglas (at the age of 80). Albeit some outdated and received ideas about controversial issues, all in all BEING THERE is a novel satire on media invasion, mordant and crowd-pleasing, a comedy with decent taste.