BEING THERE (CERT. 12)
USA 1979 DIRECTED BY HAL ASHBY
COLOUR 2h 10m
WITH: PETER SELLERS, SHIRLEY MACLAINE, MELVYN DOUGLAS
A naive middle-aged gardener, a foundling who has never been beyond the boundary-wall of
his patron’s house, is thrown out into the world when the old man dies. His many years spent
either gardening or watching television help him towards a fortuitous social and political
elevation.
1 Academy Award (Oscar) – Melvyn Douglas
1 BAFTA – Screenplay (Jerzy Kosiński)
‘One of the most confoundingly provocative films of the year, with wonderful comic moments. –
Roger Ebert
‘One of those rare films, a work of such electric comedy that you are more likely to watch it in
amazement than to break down and laugh.’ – Gene Siskel
‘The film’s humour never flags and yet its delicately bitter irony is never far away.’ – Vincent
Misiano
‘A carefully modulated examination of the ideals, anxieties and media-fuelled delusions that shaped
American culture during the 1970s.’ – The Criterion Collection