Being There

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the 1971 book and 1979 movie. For the 1996 album by the band Wilco, see Being There (album).

Being There
Image:266360.1020.A.jpg original film poster
Directed by	Hal Ashby
Produced by	Andrew Braunsberg
Written by	Jerzy Kosiński Robert C. Jones
Starring	Peter Sellers Shirley MacLaine Melvyn Douglas Jack Warden Richard A. Dysart Richard Basehart
Music by	Johnny Mandel
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	December 19, 1979
Running time	130 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Being There is a political, satirical 1971 novel by Jerzy Kosiński and a 1979 film directed by Hal Ashby.

The film stars Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard A. Dysart and Richard Basehart. It won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Melvyn Douglas) and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Peter Sellers).

The screenplay was written by Kosinski, and won the 1981 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Film) Best Screenplay Award, as well as the 1980 Writers Guild of America Award (Screen) for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium. It was also nominated for the 1980 Golden Globes Best Screenplay Award (Motion Picture).[1]

1 Synopsis
2 Analysis
3 Use of television
4 Use of Music
5 Famous quotes
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Being There depicts the story of a gardener named Chance (Sellers) who grows up in the townhouse of a wealthy man in Washington, D.C.. For reasons that remain unexplained (beyond the implication that he is a simpleton), Chance has had virtually no contact with the outside world and no social interaction for his entire life. Apart from his limited relationship with Louise the maid (Ruth Attaway), Chance's cultural and social education is derived entirely from what he watches on the television sets provided by his employer.

When his benefactor dies, Chance, now middle-aged, is forced to leave his sheltered existence in the house and discover the world outside for the first time. He wanders around wintry Washington dressed in clothes that are thirty years out of fashion and carrying a suitcase and umbrella. Some of the rougher people he meets look upon him as either odd or trying to provoke trouble (which is furthest from his mind).

A minor car accident leads him to make the acquaintance of wealthy and powerful businessman Ben Rand (Douglas). Coughing over a strong drink, Chance's name is interpreted as "Chauncey Gardiner" rather than "Chance the gardener", which is what he said. Rand and his wife Eve (MacLaine) believe that Chance is a businessman who has gone bust and take him under their wing. His simplistic, deliberate utterances are interpreted as statements of deep wisdom.

Rand, a dying man, is also the confidant and adviser of the US President (Warden), whom Chance has "seen on TV". In their meeting, Chance's remarks about how the garden changes with the seasons are interpreted by the President for economic and political advice. He makes similar quotes in a TV speech and as a result Chance quickly rises to national public prominence.

"Chauncey Gardiner"'s appeal is increased by the fact that nobody seems to know who he is or where he comes from. Neither the press nor the Secret Service can find information on him. Even the heads of the CIA and FBI argue if he is a former agent of each others' organization.

Only Rand's doctor (Dysart) sees Chance for what he is: a simple-minded gardener. However the fact that the man has given his patient a new lease of life makes him hesitant in revealing this. Rand himself encourages his wife to get close to Chance.

Rand dies and the President gives a long-winded read-out of his quotes at the funeral. The pallbearers, members of the board of Rand's companies, hold a whispered discussion over potential replacements for the President for the next term of office. As Rand's coffin is about to added to his family's pyramid-like mausoleum they finally agree on "Chauncey Gardiner".

Oblivious to all this, Chance wanders through Rand's wintry estate. Ever the gardener, he straightens out a bush and then walks off across a small lake, seemlingly on the water's surface.

[edit] Analysis

Though well-dressed and appearing capable of deep thoughts, Chance is mentally limited, stunted by his sheltered upbringing. The other characters see different qualities in him which are not there, but instead reflect qualities and needs of their own. Kosiński uses Chance to satirize our media-driven society in a merciless yet cunningly subtle way. The frequent snippets of actual television commercials and programs show the often silly nature of television programming.

Memorable scenes in the film version include Chance being confronted early on by a street gang, and pulling out his TV remote control to "change the channel" in self-defense, then being surprised when it doesn't work; repeating several times to important people the famous "All is well...and all will be well...in the garden," and having that interpreted as an uplifting economic and political comment; MacLaine's character writhing in long-suppressed sexual pleasure on a bear rug while Chance obliviously channel-surfs and tries to mimic a yoga program by standing on his head; and in the final scene, walking across the surface of a lake because his attention is not caught by the funeral that's going on, while the most important movers and shakers in the USA discuss running him for President.

The final scene continues to generate discussion and controversy. Is there a prosaic explanation, such as hidden stepping-stones? Was Chance in fact a supernatural being, was it a purely symbolic abstraction, or did he truly possess some special grace, given his simple innocence and simply being present to each moment without filters and ideas? In his 2001 book The Great Movies, Roger Ebert argues for the latter interpretation. Another view is that the director (and the author) are simply asking the audience "how much more would you have believed? We've been kidding you all along you know!"

There are bloopers from one scene in the movie, shown at the very end while the credits are rolling, when Sellers tries in vain to quote inner-city slang and swearwords with as straight a face as possible and ending up chuckling instead. The audience gets to see Peter Sellers "out of character" — the opposite of how his character has been portrayed. Outtakes like these being shown in a major Hollywood production were very rare.

This was Peter Sellers' penultimate film. It is said to be the one film about which he was truly passionate since it was an opportunity to show off his skills as an actor as opposed to simply a comedian.

[edit] Use of television

The film makes continued use of actual television clips throughout. These clips are part of the ambient visual and audio background, presented as a natural occurrence of a television being on in the room where the scene is taking place. The clips were chosen by Dianne Schroeder, and are referenced in the film credits as "Special Television Effects."

These clips are an essential element of the film. They provide a window into the mind of Chance, who knows nothing of the world outside the old man's home except from what he's learned on television.

Orchestral program, playing Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, the "Unfinished Symphony."
Scene from Jezebel, "Yowsah!"
Sealy mattress commercial: "It's a Sealy Posturepedic morning! Yeah!".
Scene from Sesame Street, with the song "Different People, Different Ways."
Lt. Mumbly cartoon, "I dare you to stop me in my Super Cop Clobberer."
Green Acres scene.
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
Captain Kangaroo scene.
Quaker State Motor Oil commercial.
Washington Post commercial.
Basketball Jones cartoon and song (sung by Cheech and Chong), including the line "I've got more moves than Ex-Lax!"
Get Smart, "Pardon me for intruding at a time like this, but were you very close to Max?" "Are you kidding? We were inseparable."
Fuzzbuster commercial, "You wouldn't think of driving without your rear view mirror. And yet some people still drive without a Fuzzbuster."
Gatorade commercial, "Ever watch a game on TV and see the players chuggin' down this stuff? Ever wonder why?"
Scene from Days of Our Lives.
Sanford and Son scene.
Scene from the film Little Caesar.
Scene from The Beverly Hillbillies.
Match Game clip.
Lilias! Yoga and You exercise program.
Paul Lynde on The Hollywood Squares.
Love-making scene from The Thomas Crown Affair, featuring Faye Dunaway and Steve McQueen. Hal Ashby served as editor of The Thomas Crown Affair.
TV news broadcast about a blizzard in the Midwest.
Documentary or news clip about a wheelchair-bound man who gets his Masters degree.
Anheuser Busch Natural Light beer commercial: "You can call me Ray."

Clips are also included which were made especially for the film and not taken from actual programs, such as Chance's appearance on the Gary Burns Show, and the president (Jack Warden) appearing on television.

[edit] Use of Music

The small amount of original music in the film (i.e. written for the film) is by Johnny Mandel and primarily features two recurring piano themes. These are both based on (but not the same as) two Gnossiennes by Eric Satie (No. 4, which is very haunting, and No. 5 which is slightly jovial). The other major piece of music used is the Eumir Deodato arrangement of the opening fanfare from Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, in the scene where Chance leaves the house and ventures out into the world for the first time. This composition is widely known for its use in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[edit] Famous quotes

I like to watch.
Life is a state of mind.
All is well...and all will be well...in the garden.
Now, get this, honky. You go tell Raphael that I ain't taking no jive from no Western Union messenger.
Are you going to die now?
That's a very small room.
In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again.
I can't write. and I can't read. and I like to watch TV.