Being There

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Being There

PG

1979

2h 9m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

95%

Tomatometer

65 Reviews

92%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Simple-minded Chance (Peter Sellers), a gardener who has resided in the Washington, D.C., townhouse of his wealthy employer for his entire life and been educated only by television, is forced to vacate his home when his boss dies. While wandering the streets, he encounters business mogul Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas), who assumes Chance to be a fellow upper-class gentleman. Soon Chance is ushered into high society, and his unaffected gardening wisdom makes him the talk of the town.

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Critics Consensus

Smart, sophisticated, and refreshingly subtle, Being There soars behind sensitive direction from Hal Ashby and a stellar Peter Sellers performance.

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Joe Pollack

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Apr 7, 2022

Under the direction of Hal Ashby, in his first film since Coming Home, Sellers gives an impressively disciplined performance, always taut and under control. The difficulty with the film, however, is that the screenplay is basically a one-joke story.

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Ed Potton

The Times (UK)

Jan 17, 2020

4/5

Gently directed by Hal Ashby, this satire of a ruling class in which nobody knows anything is almost plausible, and certainly topical.

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Richard Combs

Sight & Sound

Jan 16, 2020

The result must be one of the boldest of commercial comedies, for the way it turns on passages of dead time, the dreadful pauses while other characters struggle to see the significance in each of Chance's cryptically meaningless remarks.

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Calum Baker

Radio Times

Mar 31, 2026

5/5

Peter Sellers gives a masterful, stripped-back performance in this memorable satire.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

Jan 11, 2026

5/5

…a final flourish of comic genius from Peter Sellers…still an extraordinary film by Hal Ashby, stripping back layers of modern pretensions and viewing a chaotic world with a child’s innocence and insight…’

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Danielle Solzman

Solzy at the Movies

Oct 20, 2025

5/5

Decades later, Being There endures not just for Sellers’ quietly brilliant performance, but as a sharp, prescient satire of celebrity, media, and political obsession—a comedy that feels as timely today as it did in 1979.

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Michael M

@mlm5l Sep 24, 2026

The people and critics who give this movie great reviews are as phony and vain as the political machine portrayed in the movie. Being There is just OK. It drags at times, then it suddenly just ends. The ending made absolutely no sense. It’s one of those movies, they show on network TV, that you would watch when you have nothing else to do.

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Jon G

@RT43191456 Jul 27, 2026

A great movie with a masterful performance by Peter Sellers.

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Toni G.

@RT76116531 Apr 30, 2026

One of my favorite movies. Good premise. Very imaginative & smart. Terrific acting . Politics with a dash of humor & a lot of sarcasm. Passes the test of time.

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Chris L

@Christoph2000 Apr 19, 2026

One may gather whatever they wish from Being There, much like how everyone who comes to know Chance projects their desires onto him. A brilliantly subtle satire that will endure forever, it is difficult to believe that this immediately followed Coming Home in Hal Ashby's career timeline, as it occupies the polar opposite end of the subtelty scale. I suppose sometimes the best way to understand anything is to strip it all back and carry a tentative amount of optimism - Chance's though was unlimited due to beginning life with a blank slate in middle age, which reintroduced memories of being unburdened by humanity's worst restraint, fear, as a youngster. Only two direct messages are delivered throughout the entirety of the movie: 'Whiteness is all that's needed to succeed in America' - Louise's reaction to Chance's TV appearance, and 'life is a state of mind.' Sprinkled throughout are further statements on political soundbites, wealth isolation and lack of care for the vulnerable. Unique.

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thiago S

@Thiagostone Apr 15, 2026

Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom

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revolver.0 8

@Revolver08 Feb 10, 2026

a bit dragged to the point of tragic satire and irony of real world state of mind

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Hal Ashby

Director

Peter Sellers

Chance ('Chauncey Gardiner')

Shirley MacLaine

Eve Rand

Jack Warden

President 'Bobby'

Melvyn Douglas

Benjamin Turnbull Rand

Richard Dysart

Dr. Robert Allenby

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Synopsis

Simple-minded Chance (Peter Sellers), a gardener who has resided in the Washington, D.C., townhouse of his wealthy employer for his entire life and been educated only by television, is forced to vacate his home when his boss dies. While wandering the streets, he encounters business mogul Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas), who assumes Chance to be a fellow upper-class gentleman. Soon Chance is ushered into high society, and his unaffected gardening wisdom makes him the talk of the town.

Director: Hal Ashby
Producer: Andrew Braunsberg
Screenwriter: Jerzy Kosinski
Distributor: United Artists, Warner Bros.
Production Co: NatWest Ventures, Northstar, BSB, Enigma, Lorimar Film Entertainment, CIP, Fujisankei
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 19, 1979, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): May 7, 2015
Runtime: 2h 9m
Sound Mix: Mono

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