Two legends convene for a late period opus
I’d been wanting to check this out ever since I saw an interview where Kyle MacLachlan cited Peter Sellers performance in Being There as his major influence for Dougie in Twin Peaks: The Return. It’s funny now, having seen both, to think about how Hal Ashby and David Lynch each view the type of goodness on display from their characters as a sort of incorruptible force that earns their unstoppable rise through their individual environments. And while I wouldn’t call the directors similar, they seem to have overlapping viewpoints on the general bitterness of the world, and how that sort of juvenile optimism and goodness wilts in people as they go about their lives. In both works, our bumbling protagonists help people realize truths within themselves, often for the betterment of their person, simply by listening and being pleasant.
It’s that moral simplicity that is the lifeblood of Being There and Chauncey Gardner is as sweet and uncorrupted as they come. It’s rare to find a movie that promotes the virtues of being nice in a way that isn’t preachy or saccharine, and Being There lands it’s themes on the back of it’s legendary central performance. And sure, Sellers’ portrayal of helpless unintelligence isn’t necessarily something to aspire to, but the essence of kindness laid out just might be.
The little glimpses into Chauncey Gardner’s true psyche (most notably at the film’s emotional climax) make him feel less clownish or simple then some of the movie’s sillier moments might have you believe. I’m so grateful for Seller’s as Chauncey because he could’ve been portrayed as such a simple nitwit if someone less talented were cast to bring him to life. I think the trick of the movie is that you could watch it as an out and out comedy about a dumb guy with good luck, but it’s the depth that Sellers and Ashby bring to an otherwise simple story that makes Being There so worthy of the reputation it’s developed.
Have I maybe fallen for the charm of a lovable idiot? Am I extrapolating a secret, self-serving meaning from something that might not be that deep? Maybe. But isn’t that the point? Is that not the secret magic of Chauncey Gardner?
And while I don't want to spoil it, there is an all time ending as well.
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