There are some films which make a movie lover so happy that they exist, and that a collection of artists took their time, energy, and talents to make them. I’m talking about films which are so incredibly universal in their power that they can’t help but unite audiences from all different walks of life. These films are funny, but also smart in their characterization and in their overall execution. They manage to make a truthful comment on society, while also remaining telling in their ideology regarding the individual. Finally, these films also represent the magic and imagination of film in the most captivating of ways, maintaining a firm hold on the medium’s ability to transport. No matter where films go, the number of titles with the ability to do ALL of the above remain the rarest of beasts. However Being There remains a flawless example that such an experience can exist.
Based on the celebrated novel by Jerzy Kosinski, Being There takes place in Washington D.C. in the late ‘70s, where a simple-minded gardener named Chance (Peter Sellers) is forced to venture into the outside world for the first time after the old man who has taken care of him his whole life has died. Nicknamed Chauncey Gardner by a wealthy woman named Eve (Shirley MacLaine), he is soon taken in by her and her influential, dying husband Ben (Melvyn Douglas) and finds himself winning over many of the city’s high-profile figures, all of whom look at Chauncey as a wise individual.
Being There is billed as a comedy, and rightfully so. The film is genuinely hilarious, but with a subtle form of humor. Most of the jokes in the film come from a continuous stream of fish-out-of-water moments Chauncey experiences, such as his reaction after riding in a car for the first time, “That was just like television…only you can see much further.” Most other times, the laughs come courtesy of everyone mistaking Chauncey for a soft-spoken prophet rather than a sheltered, childlike man. One moment in particular which stands out sees Chauncey being offered a book deal by an editor for him to publish his political philosophy, which includes his “gardening” metaphor. When he replies that he can’t write, the editor states, “Of course not. Who can nowadays? Listen, I have trouble writing a post card to my children.” When he’s told a ghost writer can be hired for him, Chauncey counters by saying he can’t read, to which the editor responds, “Of course you can’t! No one has the time!” The laughs in Being There pinpoint the muddled triviality of modern everyday society which its participants are squarely responsible for. Having such a spotlight come courtesy of an individual such as Chauncey not only brings forth hilarity, but makes the comment on the misappropriated value of life all the more stronger.
Doubtless the title of the film may escape some. Yet few titles have been able to so eloquently say so much about the film they represent. Being There is about being RIGHT there in that moment of life that is existing in each and every second that passes. It’s also about embracing as much as is possible during that moment from all the life that is existing around you. Through Chauncey, Being There shows audiences how to look at life in the purest, most simplistic and organic of ways. Without taking away from the importance of it, the film also shows how knowledge and intelligence, so much of it anyhow, complicates the very fabric of what life should be about and what should be valued in this world. Being There is very much a fairy tale of a film, and Chuancey is most certainly a mythical character within it. But there’s something very honest and wise about his notion of creating a garden (aka society, and life in general) and loving it enough to watch it grow in the way it naturally should.
It’s hard to imagine anyone else who could have played Chauncey the way Sellers did. The way he brings him to life by the simplest of mannerisms, the soft speech, and that look in his eyes of innocence and goodness simply couldn’t have been achieved by any other actor. Maybe this is because Sellers himself was in a way, like Chauncey, continuously exploring the world through his own comic lens. For all of his achievements in a legendary career, Being There will always be Sellers’s crowning glory.
MacLaine, on the other hand, may have the film’s least flashy role, yet she brings to life Eve’s own vulnerability and strength, portraying her as a woman who hasn’t been swallowed up by the world she belongs to enough that she still finds the beauty in a person such as Chauncey. Meanwhile Douglas has the film’s most poetic part as a man who finds a connection with a stranger in his final days. The way he shows Ben’s sense of reflection as he is slowly slipping away is a great tribute to one of the movie’s most underrated actors.
While the premise for Being There is unique enough to fully be considered novel and the screenplay is seeped in a combination of pathos, humor, and wisdom, it’s ultimately Chauncey alone who makes the movie. I’m convinced that every ounce of joy which is derived from the film exists because of him. When I showed the film to a friend years ago, he commented to me in reference to Chauncey, “I just feel like I want to take care of him.” That’s the perfect way to describe the effect of this almost God-like presence the character possesses. Chauncey is every bit a calming and unassuming figure. More than that, however, he represents what many of us undoubtedly wish the world was truly like.
The Package
Criterion has loaded the Blu-ray release of Being There with a generous amount of special features, the most valuable of all being a new documentary on the film with members of the crew, who said filming went smoothly despite the unique personalities of Kosinski and director Hal Ashby. There’s also talk about the author’s insistence on having sole screenplay credit, despite the fact that the majority of the final script came courtesy of writer Robert C. Jones. The screenwriter also discusses the meaning behind the much-debated ending, with Jones explaining, “He was just too dumb to think that he couldn’t do it.”
Speaking of the film’s conclusion, the studio apparently went back and forth with two endings, before ultimately deciding on the one in the finished version. However, the additional ending, included here as one of the film’s deleted scenes, is sure to be the one many will feel Being There should have had.
The Lowdown
Besides reigniting MacLaine’s career during a not so vital time, allowing Sellers to be seen as a true actor as well as a comic genius, and enabling Ashby to be a sensitive and delicate filmmaker, Being There remains one of the most magical and moving film experiences of all time.
Being There is now available on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection.
