Being There (1979)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.