Review of The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) by F R — 01 Oct 2004

(Theatre) (First Viewing, 1st Hopkins film).

[b]The Life and Death of Peter Sellers[/b] is a hard film to rate- it has flashes of greatness, but I have the feeling that I wouldn't have gotten much from the film if I had been unfamiliar with Sellers before seeing it. As [i]Time Out[/i] astutely points out, the film does a good job in demonstrating that Sellers was a troubled, selfish individual- but when it comes down to it, is that [i]really[/i] much of an insight?

The film has a semi-ambitious structure that reminded me of [b]Citizen Kane[/b] at times, but too often it's so sloppily handled that it ended up seeming like a muddled mess. Geoffrey Rush does an admirable job at getting under Seller's skin and exploring his character, but the script lets him down. The film drops many names into the narrative (Stanley Tucci plays Stanley Kubrick, John Lithgow as Blake Edwards, Charlize Theron as Britt Eklend, etc.), with Rush himself occasionally taking up the various characters himself, in an attempt to dissect Sellers from different perspectives. It's an interesting touch, but more gimmicky than insightful, I'm afraid.

The film is worth seeing for Rush's performance, which is already generating awards buzz, but as for the films itself- well, it'd be best to stick to with the original [b]Pink Panther[/b]. Genuine Sellers is better than imitation- even when the imitation is admittedly great.