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Being There

Screenplay by Jerzy Kosinski, adapted from his novel

After the publication of his novel Being There, author Kosinski received a telegram from its lead character, Chance the gardener, who wrote that he was "available in my garden or outside of it." When Kosinski called, Peter Sellers answered.

Cast: Peter Sellers (Chance), Shirley MacLaine (Eve Rand), Richard Dysart (Dr. Allenby), Melvyn Douglas (Benjamin Rand), Jack Warden (the President)

 Being There is a one joke movie based upon a fragile premise. Still, the understated delivery of the film, along with a restrained performance by the talented (and usually rambunctious) Peter Sellers, underlies the fact that Being There is a quiet but important fable about society.

The story line centers on a slow-witted gardener named Chance (Peter Sellers), who knows only gardening and what he sees on television, and what transpires when he is suddenly put out into the world. Because Chance speaks so simply and so directly, his words are mistaken for profundities; everything he says is mistaken for a metaphor by the media-mad society. By film's end, Chance -- who has become an adviser, of sorts, to one of the world's most wealthy men -- is spoken of in glowing terms by men seeking a candidate for the presidency.

The often double-edged fable, scripted by Jerzy Kosinski and based on his 1971 novel, looks at a media obsessed society, and particularly at Chance, a man who has been literally drained by television. He is emotionless; he is unaware of his sexuality; his face forever an empty look.

Actually, during the first fifteen minutes of the film, the viewer has no idea what is happening. We meet the deadpan Chance as he is watching television. His pace is slow, and he appears fascinated by any imagery that appears on his screen. When a bustling black woman enters the room, apparently to ready Chance for some outing, she alludes to the fact that his life is about to change. But only when Chance leaves his protective room and his familiar gardens and ventures outside of the Washington, D.C., townhouse, where he has lived and apparently been employed, do we fully understand the impact. To the strains of a jazzy (Deodato) version of "Also Sprach Zarathustra," Chance makes his way onto the streets. It is, we sense, the first time he has been out in society. It is a rebirth - this simple-minded man has, it seems, spent most of his life in service to his employer, who has only recently died.

Obviously, the streets of Washington, D.C., are no place for a "newcomer." When he finds himself harassed by members of a black street gang, Chance reaches for an appropriate means of escape by trying to press a remote control button to tune the gang members out. Chance's encounters on the street are mostly humorous, underlining his conditioned mental state. For example, because he was apparently cared for at the townhouse by the black servant woman, when he becomes hungry he approaches a black woman on the street and asks for some lunch.

Amazed by everything he is really seeing (as opposed to seeing it on the small screen), Chance is walking about very nearly in a daze. Through a mishap, he encounters Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine), the beautiful wife of a powerful financier. It is Eve who, upon hearing him identified as Chance the Gardener, misunderstands. Thinking him to be one Chauncey Gardiner, she insists that he come with her to her palatial home, where her doctor can see a leg injury. (Eve is hopeful there will not be legal ramifications, since she feels her car is to blame for the mishap.)

Dressed in a tailored, expensive-looking business suit (no doubt a hand-me-down from his employer), complete with a neat homburg, Chauncey takes his first ride in a car. It is the first in a string of misadventures for the apparently illiterate gardener. Upon meeting the powerful Benjamin Rand (Melvyn Douglas), Chauncey quickly secures his interest and friendship. Rand is taken with Chauncey's direct approach, and mistakenly attaches profundities to Chauncey's ramblings about gardening.

When the President (Jack Warden) meets with Rand, he, too, is affected by Rand's house guest. Surprised by Chauncey's quiet, unassuming manner (the gardener is not in awe of the world leader -- he does not have the capability to be excited), the President is further caught off-guard by Chauncey's remarks about current conditions. "As long as the roots are not severed, all will be well in the garden ... there will be growth in the spring." Mistaking his words for a metaphor about the current political climate, the President remarks, "Well, that's one of the most refreshing opinions I've heard in a long time."

Chauncey goes on to attain a kind of Kissingerlike fame. Talk show hosts want him for guest spots as the populace suddenly grows interested in Chauncey's opinion. As interest in Chauncey grows, the President becomes increasingly uneasy; his sexual performance is even affected. At a Washington party, Chauncey, who has escorted a glowing Eve, is immediately besieged by opinion-makers. One anxious publisher offers Chauncey a "six-figure advance" if he will write a book; Chauncey, however, cannot read or write, and he tells the publisher so. Unruffled, the publisher is determined to work out some kind of deal.

It is, of course, Chauncey's frankness and his desire to please everyone that secures his following. As Benjamin Rand tells him, "One of the things I admire about you is your balance. You seem to be a truly peaceful man." In fact, Rand is so pleased with Chauncey that he encourages the relationship between Chauncey and Eve. Rand, who has been in ill health, is anxious to leave his wife with some purpose and happiness following his death, and he is hopeful that Chauncey can provide that.

Eve, who is enamored with Chauncey, also hopes for some sexual fulfillment with the prophetic visitor, but a sexual misunderstanding ensues when Chauncey tells her, "I like to watch." He means television, of course, but Eve, thinking he wants to watch her as she arouses herself, complies. It is a riotous sequence, with Eve groping and squirming about the floor while Chauncey mimics assorted scenes on the screen, even going so far as to do a head-stand during an exercise program. For Eve, the encounter is her most sexually stimulating ever.

By the film's close, Chauncey's passive state has soothed nearly all of those with whom he has come in touch. Though the Rand physician, Dr. Allenby (Richard Dysart), has come to learn that Chauncey is simply Chance the Gardener, Eve looks upon him with serenity and the President fears him as a potential candidate. (When the President's staff is unable to locate information regarding Chauncey's background, the President enraged: "What do you mean he's got no background! I quoted him on national television today - he's a very well-known man!") It is during Benjamin Rand's funeral that the pallbearers begin to see Chauncey as a potential presidential candidate.

Hal Ashby, whose credits range from cult favorites such as Harold and Maude (1971) to the critically and commercial successful Coming Home (1978), has directed Being There with a deliberate slow pace. The slow pace further amplifies the dulled emotions of the deadpan Chauncey.

Peter Sellers, known for a variety of film roles, including his slapstick portrayals of the popular Inspector Clousaeu of the Pink Panther films, received a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his work as Chauncey. Melvyn Douglas, at 79, received the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, for his work as Benjamin Rand. Shirley MacLaine, who, like Sellers, has often been accused of overacting, delivers a restrained performance as the enraptured Eve.

Although Being There is not the first film to examine television's impact deftly, its treatment of the theme is decidedly unique. In seeing television viewers as passive, empty victims, author Jerzy Kosinski's view is in marked contrast to the "mad as hell" audiences skillfully portrayed in Lumet's Network (1976).

Released in late 1979, Being There gained the support of most major critics, although many underlined the film's one-joke premise. Acclaimed for its subtle delivery in a year when special effects, especially in science fiction theme films, were everywhere, Being There was also applauded for its fine, sensitive performances.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Although some reviewers (notably Roger Ebert, who praised the film but dismissed any attack on society or television) feel otherwise, Kosinski sees Being There as an indictment of television. "Imagining groups of solitary individuals watching their private, remote-controlled TV sets is the ultimate future terror: a nation of videots," says Kosinski in his interview with David Sohn. How does Kosinski--along with the contributions of Hal Ashby and Peter Sellers--make this point in Being There? Is the film's theme the same of other indictments of television (e.g. Network and Broadcast News or the more recent The Truman Show and Pleasantville)?
2. How is Chance characterized? Name and discuss some of the means by which we come to understand what kind of person he is.
3. What is the source of the title Being There? What meaning(s) does it have?
4. Study the adaptation of the novel to film.
   1. In particular, you could take a specific scene from the novel (perhaps Chance's eviction from his townhouse and subsequent accident, pp. 23-27, or Chance's and EE's "romantic liaison," pp. 93-96), and discuss what cinematic techniques were used to visualize the language of the novel.
   2. Or, you could focus on the endings. What does the film's ending suggest? How is it different from the ending of the novel, and how do you contrast the different effects each has on its audience?
   3. Or, you could focus on the difficulty of the adaptation itself. What are some of the most notable and specific differences between the novel and the film? What are the effects of each? Which is more effective in making its point, the film or the novel, and why?
5. The progression of events in Being There is at the same time unlikely and terrifying. At what point did you feel that the events had progressed beyond the plausible? How did the implausibility of subsequent events affect your viewing?