It truly does shame me to admit that, coming into this film, I had only ever seen one movie with Peter Sellers – and that was his extraordinary three-role performance in Stanley Kubrick's 'Dr Strangelove, or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.' Having now also seen 'Being There,' Sellers' second-to-last film, I am convinced that I'll be seeing a lot more of his work in the near future. Though it is not, in fact, Sellers' final film, 'Being There' is often described as the comedy star's swan song, since the last film before his 1980 death, 'The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu,' was generally poorly-received

'Being There' traces the story of Chance (Sellers),a simple-minded gardener for a wealthy old man. For as far back as he can remember, Chance has made his home at the old man's house, spending his time tending to the roses and the other flowers. The maid, Louise, looks after all his needs. He has never left the house, and he has never travelled in an automobile. Everything he knows about the outside world has come from television, and, whenever he is not gardening, he simply "likes to watch." However, when the old man dies, Louise leaves the house, and Chance is left to fend for himself.

Chance's absent-minded wanderings about a city he doesn't understand ultimately lead him to the home of wealthy but terminally-ill private citizen Benjamin Turnbull Rand (Melvyn Douglas) and his younger wife Eve (Shirley MacLaine). Chance's spluttered self-introduction of "Chance the gardener" gives him the prestigious title of "Chauncey Gardiner," and his quiet-spoken nature is mistaken for wisdom. During a visit by the President of the United States (Jack Warden),his simple gardening anecdotes are interpreted as discerning metaphors of the current state of the nation's economy. "In the garden, growth has it seasons," Chance explains. "First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again."

When the President quotes Chance's wise words in an address to the nation, he becomes something of a celebrity, even appearing on television himself, where he expresses the need for a capable "gardener" to tend to the country's needs. Despite his high-profile, the FBI and the CIA are completely baffled as to how they could have absolutely no background information on "Mr. Gardiner," and they bicker about how only a cleverly-trained secret agent could keep such a ghostly past. Only one man, Benjamin Rand's doctor (Richard A. Dysart),begins to suspect the truth behind Chance's simple-spoken demeanour, though he keeps his suspicions quiet when he realises what a profound positive effect Chance has on those around him. The dying Benjamin Rand is given the strength to pass peacefully into death, and his wife Eve is given somebody who would stay with her in her most painful hours.

The very final shot of the film has evoked countless heated discussions since the film's original release. What could possibly be the meaning of Chance walking on the surface of the lake? It is quite obviously a Biblical reference to Christ, but what does it mean? Is Chance the saviour that so many of the film's troubled characters have been searching for? Does the man's simple innocence, uncorrupted and unbiased, offer him a certain grace? Is Chance able to walk on water simply because nobody has told him that he cannot? Or, perhaps there is a more prosaic explanation. It is not inconceivable that there are stepping stones hidden just beneath the surface of the water, and, as it had served him well countless times before, could sheer chance simply have prevented his falling into the lake?

'Being There' is a thought-provoking film, and also a clever satire of American politics and the media. Sellers is brilliant as Chance the gardener; though his character remains pretty much the same throughout, with very little personal development at all, Sellers' performance never loses steam. A strong supporting cast helps make an somewhat improbable premise almost believable, and I was particularly impressed with Melvyn Douglas as Benjamin Rand, and, indeed, he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance. This is an enchanting film, and very much worth watching.

As stated above, I am very surprised this movie is ranked so highly. This is not because I didn't like it--I ADORED this movie. It's just that I got so many people to watch it with me over the years and only one other person who watched it with me loved it. Several friends and my wife were completely ambivalent towards it. Comments like "I guess it was pretty good" or "it's too strange" were repeated again and again.

So why do I think it's brilliant. First, it APPEARS so magnificent because it is a sharp contrast to the BAD movies Peter Sellers made towards the end of his short life. It's like an oasis among the dreck. Second, although some might discount it, his completely flat emotional output as the character Chauncy Gardner took a lot of talent and patience. I can really respect that. Third, the movie tries to be different--and I think I'd rather see a movie that dares to be different and fails than one that is a blockbuster. Fourth, the comedy is VERY subdued and underplayed--you need to pay attention and think to enjoy all the laughs--they aren't spelled out for you like most comedies.

Although any number of people have compared Being There to Forrest Gump and the similarities are obvious, I like to think of Peter Sellers as Chance the Gardener as a whole lot like Jim Carrey's Truman Burbank in The Truman Show. Both come from very self contained universe, but whereas Carrey realizes that there is something out there beyond the reality his futuristic television show has provided and seeks to escape. Sellers however has come from a universe whose boundaries are that of the house he's been brought up in and when he's forced into the real world by as much chance as his name indicates he brings the real world and envelops it into his own reality.

Back then people didn't understand autism and it wasn't talked about a whole lot. In that sense Hal Ashby's Being There was a ground breaking film as much as Forrest Gump was 16 years later. Chance is a 40 to 50 something man who was raised in comfortable circumstances by someone only identified as 'the old man'. Never being outside the grounds of the estate his reality consists of only two things, what he learns on television and the tasks he performs tending the garden on the grounds of the estate.

He can't quite comprehend when 'the old man' dies and the estate is shut down and the house put up for sale. When yuppies David Clennon and Denise DuBarry move in and tell him he has to leave he just dutifully packs and takes to the mean streets of the nation's capital.

By as much chance as his name indicates he has a run in with a limousine that power couple Melvyn Douglas and Shirley MacLaine who take the slightly injured man to their palatial estate which has enough grounds to keep any gardener busy. In trying to communicate with Sellers, he morphs into Chauncey Gardiner and his simple gardening aphorisms are taken as profound wisdom. Even the President of the United States, Jack Warden is impressed.

Being There is based on a Jerzy Kosinski novel and the characters that Melvyn Douglas and Shirley MacLaine are based on are unmistakeably W. Averill Harriman and his third wife Pamela Harriman who were both power brokers behind the scenes in the Democratic Party. Douglas says that he's never sought public office and Harriman broke that rule only once in a less than impressive term as Governor of New York. He was far more at home with presidential appointments to various posts and serving as a senior adviser to Democratic presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter. Roosevelt and Truman were his seniors. His wife Pamela, his third wife was the widow of Randolph Churchill and a noted party giver where the high and mighty in Democratic governments mixed politics with cocktails.

Douglas got a second Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Being There to match the one he got for Hud. Peter Sellers got Being There's only other Oscar recognition, a nomination for Best Actor which he lost to Dustin Hoffman for Kramer Vs. Kramer. Oddly enough neither the film or Hal Ashby's direction didn't get recognized.

The only guy who puts it all together is Richard Dysart as Melvyn Douglas's doctor who gives a very rueful performance indeed.

As for Chance the Gardener or Chauncey Gardener you have to see Being There to see what chance has in store for Chance.