--- title: "Being There" year: 1979 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/being-there" fi1m_score: 84 critics_score: 86 critics_reviews: 11 published: "2026-09-16T11:21:03.562413+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T11:21:03.955538+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Being There (1979) Directed by Hal Ashby · 2h 10m · MPA PG · Comedy, Drama **Fi1m score: 84** · Critics 86 from 11 reviews *In a sentence:* A gardener talks about plants, and Washington decides he cannot possibly mean plants > Peter Sellers is quietly funny as a gardener mistaken for a political thinker. Hal Ashby’s patient satire sometimes repeats itself, but its warmth and carefully judged performances make it worth the pauses. ## Synopsis Chance (Peter Sellers) is a gardener who learns about the wider world from television. In Washington, his plain observations about plants are mistaken for statements about politics. Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine) and Benjamin Rand (Melvyn Douglas) are among the people he encounters as he enters the company of the influential. Chance sticks to what he knows, but the people listening keep hearing something else. His limited experience does not stop them treating him as a sage. While he speaks literally, his new acquaintances look for meanings he has never put into his words. ## Review Hal Ashby’s *Being There* is a patient, funny satire about how eagerly important people will supply the wisdom they want to hear. We recommend it warmly, with a warning that its central joke occasionally takes longer than it needs. Chance, played by Peter Sellers, is a gardener whose ordinary observations are received as political wisdom. The comedy gives his listeners plenty of time to explain what they believe he means, while we know he means nothing of the sort. Peter Sellers keeps Chance’s manner so level that there is no reassuring nudge to tell us when to laugh. He never lets us think Chance knows more than he is saying. We laughed at the solemn attention paid to his gardening remarks, then felt uncomfortable about how readily everyone accepted them. The performance offers no suggestion that Chance is secretly enjoying a successful fraud, which leaves the people listening responsible for their own mistakes. Jerzy Kosiński’s screenplay depends on Chance’s remarks being plain enough for us to understand why he says them, yet broad enough for somebody else to hear reassurance. That can sound like a mechanical way of writing comedy, and occasionally it is. Much of the pleasure comes from the courtesy with which these people listen, interpret and convince themselves. Hal Ashby gives their certainty room to become funny without having anyone announce the joke or explain it afterwards. Caleb Deschanel’s cinematography feels suitably formal, and Michael D. Haller’s production design gives the powerful a convincing air of settled importance. Chance looks sufficiently at home for us to understand why his listeners might not question him. Don Zimmerman’s editing leaves space for a remark to sit, be considered and acquire an importance it does not deserve. The unhurried presentation helps us believe in these encounters, even when the conclusions drawn from them are ridiculous. Shirley MacLaine, as Eve Rand, supplies warmth without making the film demand affection for everybody in it. Melvyn Douglas gives Benjamin Rand enough feeling for his interest in Chance to register as something more than a set-up for another misunderstanding. Their performances matter because the central role is deliberately so restricted; other people must provide the emotional changes that Chance cannot. Johnny Mandel’s music suits that gentler approach, supporting the tenderness without insisting that we find the gardener adorable. At 130 minutes, the film does not always find enough new possibilities in its premise. Once a listener has confidently misunderstood Chance, the next listener has to do more than repeat the error with greater consequences. Some exchanges leave us ahead of the characters for too long, waiting for another variation on a joke we have already enjoyed. A little more resistance from the people accepting him might have sharpened these stretches without requiring the film to become louder or crueller. Even then, the care taken with Chance keeps the laughter from settling into an easy mockery of his limitations. Political satire can become tiresome when it offers nothing beyond the satisfaction of feeling cleverer than everybody on screen. Here, the supporting performances complicate that satisfaction, particularly when somebody’s interest in Chance begins to feel affectionate. Watch it with someone who is happy to let a silence run. *Fi1m score 84, published 16 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are uniformly positive, with praise clustering around Peter Sellers’ tightly controlled performance as Chance, the gardener whose ordinary observations are mistaken for political wisdom. Most critics admire how little Sellers does to make the misunderstanding convincing. Hal Ashby’s muted direction is another point of agreement: the measured pace gives the comedy time to work and allows poignancy into the satire. Several reviews also single out Melvyn Douglas, while the targets of public credulity and empty rhetoric draw consistent appreciation. The differences concern the strength of that praise rather than any outright rejection. The New York Times calls the premise fragile even while admiring the acting and unhurried handling. Slant Magazine finds blunt edges in the satire, tempered by Ashby’s bemused approach. Enthusiasm ranges from measured approval to wholehearted admiration, with no negative verdict among these eleven reviews. ### Reviews we read (11) - **Radio Times**, Calum Baker (5/5): Peter Sellers delivers a masterful, stripped-back performance as the simple gardener Chance in this memorable satire, the last of his films released in his lifetime. Hal Ashby maintains a muted tone throughout that highlights the poignant elements in the story of a man mistaken for a political sage by Washington elites. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-broooj/being-there/) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (4/4): The film pulls off its risky one-joke premise with confidence and is one of the most provocative movies of the year. It features Peter Sellers in a narrow, perfectly controlled performance as the simple gardener whose truisms are mistaken for wisdom. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/being-there-1980) - **Little White Lies**, Adam Woodward (90/100, inferred): Sellers is at his understated best as the simple-minded gardener Chance in Ashby’s elegantly understated black comedy, his final film released while alive. The haunting closing long-take of Chance walking on water stands out as a powerful image of illusion, interpretation and the idea that life is a state of mind. [Read](https://lwlies.com/in-praise-of/peter-sellers-greatest-performance-being-there) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Ron Pennington (90/100, inferred): Jerzy Kosinski’s delightful parable elevates the film into one of the most charming pictures of the year. Hal Ashby’s direction perfectly realizes the offbeat humor and gentle satire, with Sellers delivering his best performance as the childlike Chance. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/being-1979-review-957421/) - **Variety** (90/100, inferred): This is a highly unusual and unusually fine film, a faithful but imaginative adaptation that marks a significant achievement for Hal Ashby and Peter Sellers' most smashing work in years. Sellers' performance is the centerpiece, supported by subtle work from Shirley MacLaine and a spectacular turn by Melvyn Douglas. [Read](https://variety.com/1978/film/reviews/being-there-1200424539/) - **The New Yorker**, Roger Angell (85/100, inferred): Peter Sellers has the penetrating vacuity exactly right in this film about a moronic gardener who rises through misapprehensions to advise the powerful. Hal Ashby's direction makes the movie deeper and classier than the source novel, aided by a spectacular Melvyn Douglas performance. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1980/01/07/heads-and-hearts) - **Empire**, Ian Nathan (80/100, inferred): The critic highlights the film's sharp satire on society's hunger for meaning and the way Chance's TV-derived platitudes are taken as wisdom. Sellers' glazed, beatific performance and Ashby's measured direction are singled out for praise, with the film noted as increasingly relevant over time. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/55ce4058de95cf0744c56c26-review/) - **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby (80/100, inferred): The stately, beautifully acted satire has a funny but fragile premise about how ignorance and a sweet attitude can lead to fame and influence. Hal Ashby directs at an unruffled pace that lets Peter Sellers' double-edged mannerisms make their full impression. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/20/archives/film-ashbykosinksi-being-therewatching-tv.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Eric Henderson (70/100, inferred): Ashby’s bemused direction tempers the satire’s blunt edges in this poker-faced examination of America. The film recasts its central figure as a neo-Holy Fool whose simple observations are mistaken for profundity by the powerful. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/being-there/) - **The Times**, Ed Potton (★★★★☆): The critic finds the 1980 re-release of this satire about an ignorant simpleton rising to power in American society timely and almost plausible. Sellers gives a finely measured performance as the idiot savant, gently directed by Ashby. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/being-there-1980-review-topical-satire-of-an-ignorant-ruling-class-f5qr5phpg) - **The Playlist**, Rodrigo Perez (A): The critic calls it a fitting swan song for Peter Sellers as the simple gardener Chance who is mistaken for a political sage. The piece singles out the film's sharp satire on how easily the public and media can be fooled by surface appearances and empty rhetoric. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/films-of-hal-ashby-a-retrospective-essentials-20110506/3/) ## Details - **Director:** Hal Ashby - **Director:** Hal Ashby - **Screenplay:** Jerzy Kosiński - **Novel:** Jerzy Kosiński - **Cinematography:** Caleb Deschanel - **Editor:** Don Zimmerman - **Music:** Johnny Mandel - **Production design:** Michael D. Haller - **Producer:** Andrew Braunsberg, Charles Mulvehill - **Cast:** Peter Sellers as Chance; Shirley MacLaine as Eve Rand; Melvyn Douglas as Benjamin Rand; Jack Warden as President 'Bobby'; Richard Dysart as Dr. Robert Allenby; Richard Basehart as Vladimir Skrapinov; Ruth Attaway as Louise; David Clennon as Thomas Franklin - **Runtime:** 2h 10m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG - **Release (the US):** 19 December 1979 - **Genres:** Comedy, Drama - **Budget:** $7 million - **Box office:** $30 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOOghKacg40 ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: add-on - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $6.99, sd *Checked 2026-09-16.* Also available in: AT, AU, BE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, IT, JP, NL, NO, RO, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1980: Best Actor (nominated); Best Supporting Actor (won) ## If you liked this - *The Man in the White Suit* (1951): Another innocent unsettles powerful people who prove remarkably inventive at protecting themselves. - *A Face in the Crowd* (1957): A harsher account of television charisma and the people who mistake it for leadership. - *The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie* (1972), Fi1m 83: For more composed absurdity among people who assume their status explains everything. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-discreet-charm-of-the-bourgeoisie.md) - *The Castle* (1997): A gentler encounter with class and authority, grounded in one family’s stubborn decency. - *Perfect Days* (2023), Fi1m 83: A quieter companion, attentive to routine and a man others might overlook. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/perfect-days.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/being-there