Review of The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) by Jennifer P — 13 Jan 2005

To fully appreciate this film, one has to first know (and some might say [i]love[/i]) the work of British comedian Peter Sellers. Because - if this movie is in any way an accurate portrayal of "the man behind the laughter" - you'll totally get the wrong impression of Peter Sellers. Geoffrey Rush puts in an [b]INCREDIBLE [/b]performance as Sellers, a complex man with a child's heart and a demon's temper. At times, Sellers can be so petty and vindicative to everyone - even his children - that it's hard to feel any sympathy for him. I understand that there's often a fine line between genius and madness, but Sellers must have been a handful for just about anyone that he came into contact with. And this is part of the problem with this movie. It's all about his madness (mostly). Very little - if any - of his comedic genius is shown, so if you'd never seen one of his movies before, you'd probably wonder why anyone would even bother carrying him out of a burning building, much less call him one of the best comedic actors [i]ever[/i].

Several critics have called this film "uneven" and especially take it to task for Rush stepping out of character to become his mother or longtime collaborator Blake Edwards. I find no fault with this, nor did I have a problem with many of the "movie scene within a movie scene" scenes or any of the fantasy shots. I liked this film pretty much all around, but I will admit that it *is* painful to watch. In this sense, it's much like [i]Boys Don't Cry[/i] or [i]The Passion of the Christ[/i] - a movie you're glad you've seen, but never want to see again.

For what it's worth, the supporting cast of Charlize Theron, Emily Watson, John Lithgow, Miriam Margolyes, Peter Vaughan and Stanley Tucci were [i]excellent[/i]. And Italian actress Sonia Aquino (who plays Seller's first extramarital love, Sophia Loren) is absolutely radiant. I hope to see her again soon!