Being There

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

Being There is a 1979 film directed by Hal Ashby, adapted from the 1971 novel written by Jerzy Kosiński

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). This would be the last of Sellers' films to be released while he was alive.

The screenplay was coauthored by Kosinski and the award winning screenwriter Robert C. Jones. It 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]

Plot summary

Being There depicts the story of a man named Chance (Sellers) who grows up in the townhouse of a wealthy man in Washington, D.C.. Chance has lived in the house his whole life, tending the garden, with virtually no contact with the outside world. Chance's cultural and social education is derived entirely from what he watches on the television sets provided by the man who brought him up, the "Old Man", as he refers to him.

When his benefactor dies, Chance, now apparently in his late forties, is forced to leave his sheltered existence in the house and discover the world outside for the first time, wandering aimlessly through wintry Washington in old-fashioned clothes and bowler hat, suitcase and umbrella. In the evening Chance comes across a TV shop and sees himself in one of the TVs, due to a camera in the shop window. While watching himself in it he is adventitiously struck by a car owned by a wealthy businessman named Ben Rand (Douglas). Chance is invited into the Rands' home to recover from his injured leg. He introduces himself as "Chance the gardener", which Rand's wife Eve (MacLaine) hears as "Chauncey Gardiner". They believe that Chance is a businessman who has gone bust and take him under their wing. His simplistic, indeliberate utterances, which mostly concern the garden of which he was once steward, are interpreted as allegorical statements of deep wisdom.

File:Beingthere11.jpg

Peter Sellers as Chance, the gardener.

Rand is also the confidant and adviser of the US President (Warden). Chance's remarks about how the garden changes with the seasons are interpreted by the President as economic and political advice. Chance, as Chauncey Gardiner, quickly rises to national public prominence. He becomes a media celebrity with appearances on TV talk shows, and is soon on the A-list of the most wanted in Washington society. Public opinion polls start to reflect just how much his "simple brand of wisdom" resonates with the jaded American public.

Rand, dying of aplastic anemia, encourages his wife to get close to Chance. Only Rand's doctor (Dysart) sees Chance for what he is: an actual gardener. However, the fact that the man has given his patient an apparent acceptance of his illness and peace with his imminent death makes him hesitant in revealing this.

Rand dies, apparently leaving Chance a legacy in his will. At his funeral, the President gives a long-winded read-out of Rand's quotations, which hardly impresses the pallbearers, members of the board of Rand's companies. They hold a whispered discussion over potential replacements for the President for the next term of office. As Rand's coffin is about to be 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 the surface of a small lake. He pauses, dips his umbrella into the water under his feet as if testing its depth, turns, smiles, then continues to walk.

How the Film's Main Characters See Chance

The way each main character sees Chance (aka Chauncey Gardiner) says a little about Chance and a lot about themselves.

Ben Rand, the dying business leader and political king-maker, gains a perception of Chauncey as a failed though totally decent businessman down on his luck. He also sees Chauncey's reference to seasons in gardening as an insightful comment about the national economy.

Eve Rand (Ben's wife) is at first puzzled by Chauncey's strangeness and then thinks of him as having insight and a sense of humor. Later she sinks her own initial doubts and adopts the consensus view that he is a great man. She then pursues her own need for friendship and sexual contact, especially when her dying husband signals his assent to her forming a relationship with Chauncey.

The President initially sees Chauncey's "advice" as inspiring to the point that he quotes and names him on national TV. But he soon comes to regret bringing this mystery man into the spotlight since it might jeopardise his chances of running for a second term.

The CIA, astounded by their inability to discover any records of a Chauncey Gardiner, come to the conclusion that someone has eliminated the entire record - a feat of such ability that "only an ex CIA man could have done it!" The FBI prefer to think that the cover-up was perpetrated by a former FBI agent, highlighting the rivalry between the two organizations.

Thomas Franklin, the lawyer, distrusts Chance's motives for acting the way he does when they first meet in the house owned by Chance's late benefactor and orders him out. Later, Franklin, keen to go into politics, seems to view his contact with Chauncey Gardiner as potentially ruinous to his career.

Louise, the African-American maid, sees Chance, whom she has known since he was a boy, on national TV, and declares out loud that he only has "rice pudding between the ears." It confirms her opinion that America is certainly a "white man's world." Her actual monologue was known to have brought the biggest laughter in theatres during the movie's theatrical lifespan: "It's for sure a white man's world in America. I raised that boy since he was the size of a 'pissant' and I'll tell you he never learned to read nor write. No sir. Has no brains at all. Stuffed with rice pudding between the ears. Short-changed by the Lord and dumb as a jackass. Yes sir, all you got to be is white in America to get whatever you want. Gobbledegoop."

The general public, as portrayed by the audience in the TV studio, opinion polls and the lawyer's girlfriend, thinks that Chauncey is "brilliant."

The political elite, seen at Rand's funeral, believe that Gardiner may be their man for the next presidential election instead of a second term for the current President.

Dr. Robert Allenby, the good-hearted doctor, initially worries that Chauncey will sue Rand for damages following the accident. He eventually learns the truth and confronts Chance with the information, who confirms it, having never actually claimed to be anything else — the whole affair has been based on what people assume Chancey is rather than what Chance led them to believe he was. However, Allenby ultimately decides to keep this knowledge to himself since Chance has given his patient a new lease of life and acceptance of his fate.

Memorable scenes

Memorable scenes in the film version include Chance leaving the house he has lived in all his life to enter into the poor black Washington, D.C. neighborhood he has never explored. The scene is musically set to a funked-up version of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (performed by Deodato), the music popularized in 2001: A Space Odyssey and an accompaniment to many TV programs regarding space exploration.

Chance is later confronted by a street gang. He pulls out his TV remote control as though to change the vision before his eyes. A lifetime of watching TV has not prepared him for the realities of real-life.

In Eve Rand's limousine, Chance asks to watch TV, to which he pays more attention than the luxurious vehicle around him or the woman he has just met. Chance watches the Cheech and Chong short film Basketball Jones in Eve's limo, and the song continues to play when he arrives at the Rand estate and is brought into their mansion.

Several scenes include the massive Biltmore House, which "stands in" as the home of Mr. Rand. The Biltmore House and Estate is the largest private residence in the United States and is located in Asheville, North Carolina. The scenes involving the funeral for Rand were also filmed on the grounds of the estate.

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.

The second to last scene has generated discussion and controversy. Before Ben dies, he says, "Tell Eve that...", and he dies in the middle of the sentence. The doctor puts Ben's hand to his chest. Chance then puts his hand on Ben's forehead as if reviving him. When he takes his hand off Ben's forehead, he speaks with the doctor, and then, leaves the room. As Chance is leaving the room, the doctor, blurred, is watching him with his back facing the screen. Someone (the doctor or Rand) then says, "I understand." The doctor turning around to look at the dead Ben, then says, "I understand?"

The Lake Scene

In the final scene, Chance is shown wandering around the grounds of the Biltmore Estate only to come across a large lake over which he continues to walk across, giving the audience the impression that Chance is indeed walking on water; all the while the most important movers and shakers in the USA discuss choosing him to represent their party in the upcoming Presidential election. This scene continues to generate discussion and controversy. Clearly we see Chance walking on water, an act with a clear Biblical reference. It is as though the director is pushing our own sense of seeing what we see or what we want to see. Are we prepared just to see the same view that others are seeing, or are we prepared to go beyond that. Is there a prosaic explanation, such as hidden stepping-stones? Or is Chance the Savior (as so many of the characters are looking for)? Does 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!"

One clue that is often overlooked, is the diegetic sound accompanying the simple image of Chance walking on the lake water. As Chance walks through the woods near the funeral, a series of Rand's personal quotations are read aloud while the coffin is carried to its final resting place. Rand's last quote coincides with the last image of the film: just as the words "Life is a state of mind" are recited, we see Chance walk on water. One clear interpretation then is the suggestion that perception creates our reality.

Closing credits

While the closing credits are rolling, bloopers from a scene that does not appear in the movie are played: Sellers, lying on an operating bed, tries in vain to quote inner-city slang and swearwords with a straight face and ends up getting the lines wrong and laughing instead. The audience gets to see Peter Sellers as himself — "out of character". Outtakes like these being shown in a major Hollywood production were very rare at the time, and Sellers reportedly disapproved of the decision to include them — since, by all accounts, it was his attempt to show his skills as an actual actor as opposed to just a comedian.

Sellers' view

This was Peter Sellers' penultimate film (his next and the last one being The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu).

It is said to be the one film about which he was truly passionate since it was an opportunity to showcase his skills as an actor as opposed to being a comedian. Up until then almost all of his films had been straight or black comedies.

Reputedly, he pulled out all the stops to gain the role for himself after reading the book.

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.

• A car being driven out on The Price is Right. (This clip was later sampled for the 1981 song "New Car!", performed by Daniel Amos)
• 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" sung by Buffy Sainte-Marie and Big Bird.
• 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."
• Scene from The Gong Show

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 a dark, somber compisition, while 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.

Famous quotes, dialogues

• 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 its 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.

Ben's Quotes (As Read at His Funeral)

• "I have no use for those on welfare, no patience whatsoever, but if I am to be honest with myself, I must admit that they have no use for me either."
• "I do not regret having political differences with men that I respect. I do regret however, that our philosophies kept us apart."
• "I could never conceive why I could never convince my kitchen staff that I looked forward to a good bowl of chili now and then."
• "I have heard the word "sir," more often than I have heard the word "friend," but I suppose there are other rewards for wealth."
• "I have met with kings; during these conferences I have suppressed bizarre thoughts. Could I beat him in a foot race? Could I throw a ball further than he?"
• "No matter what our facades, we are all children."
• "To raise your rifle is to lower your sights."
• "No matter what you are told there is no such thing as an even trade."
• "I was born into a position of extreme wealth, but I have spent many sleepless nights thinking about extreme poverty."
• "I have lived a lot, trembled a lot, was surrounded by little men who forgot that we entered naked and exit naked and that no accountant can audit life in our favor."
• "When I was a boy, I was told that the Lord fashioned us from His own image, that's when I decided to manufacture mirrors."
• "Security. Tranquility. A Well Deserved Rest. All the aims I have pursued will soon be realized."
• "Life is a state of mind."

Trivia

It has been suggested that Kozinski named the character of Chance after a teacher of transcendental meditation he had met at the local TM Center in Cambridge, MA named Jerry Jarvis, who resembled the calm and simple manner of Chance Gardiner. The TM Center was located at the corner of Chancey and Garden streets.[2]

See also

• Politics in fiction
• The Career of Nicodemus Dyzma, a Polish novel with strong resemblances to Being There

External links

• Being There at IMDb
• Template:Filmsite
• All Movie Guide entry
• Review by Roger Ebert, who puts Being There on his Greatest Movies list
• The Making of Being There by Michael Dare
• Films shot in North Carolina
• Western North Carolina Film Commision
• NC Film