Peter Sellers in Being There
Few comic actors in film history can brag to have the versatility of Peter Sellers. His bumbling turns as Inspector Clouseau were explosively funny, while his measured (and varied) turns in Dr. Strangelove still ranks as a comedy high mark. Regardless, any person who only knows of Sellers’ loopier performance may have found him a strange casting choice to play the soft-spoken, enigmatic hero Chance in Being There.
Chance takes care of an old man and spends most of his days watching television and tending to his garden. Due to a few misunderstandings – people mistake him for “Chauncey Gardner” instead of Chance the Gardener – he turns into an American hero. He talks about gardening but his messages are misconstrued as metaphors for the state of American life.
The key to this performance’s success was in its modesty and mystique. As Chance, Sellers boasts none of the lively traits he often possessed on the screen. The result was a performance of all-encompassing calm and serenity. Beyond the story’s satirical content, the comedy of Being There came from the characters’ flagrant reactions to the reserved protagonist. There’s a stony naturalism that came effortlessly to Sellers, as if all of his ecstatic tendencies as a comedy performer had vanished. His background in slapstick and comedy only enriched our enjoyment of this solemn, serious performance.
