Being There
I expected something like “Harold and Maude”. In fact, it was nothing like “Harold and Maude”, but perhaps they share some glance of oddity as well as social commentary that is almost unique to Hal Ashby.
At first, I wasn’t really sure what the film would be about. Without having seen too much, the story first made no sense (who is the old man?) and it seemed to take a direction into the tragedy “Of Men and Mice”, with Chance being thrown out of his house. It was only afterwards that I realized this would be a comedy, and quite a dark and satirical one at that. Chance is too strange, too otherworldly to be somebody you can relate to, unlike Forrest Gump or the main character from “Of Mice and Men” or even Dostoevsky’s Prince Myshkin. But Peter Sellers easily makes up for that by giving one of his greatest performances. Chance is an incredible enjoyment to watch. He is a plot-driving comical relief at the same time. So awesome.
I was surprised at how good the main female character was, and did not realize it was Shirley MacLaine… at all. How did I manage to overlook that? She is so great in the film! Her “relationship” with Peter Seller’s character is the best thing in the world!
Oh the controversial end. It makes no sense, that is for sure. But there is something strangely beautiful about it. It’s a scene worthy to become cult, so memorable. Life is a state of mind indeed.
“Being There” did not hit my heart like Beirut’s newest album did (I have been listening to the title song, “The Rip Tide” on repeat today, and oh God, it’s crushing me almost as strongly as Phoenix’s “Armistice”), but instead it’s touching my intellect. Politics are one fine ridiculous circle-jerk, and there aren’t enough sophisticated movies about it.
“You… have to… harvest… the fruit… in autumn. It’s important… to look after… your garden.”
And “I like to watch.” XXXD
Well, you already know that I almost died of laughing while watching the movie. :D This type of humour which is solely based on misunderstandings and the fun consequences resulting from them is quite a classical humouristic device, but in this movie, for me, it was raised to a higher level.
And I also didn’t recognize Shirley MacLaine at all! It may be, because apart from Being There I’ve only seen her in The Apartment and she looks completely different in that one.
Oh, and actually I found the ending quite similar to the one in Harold and Maude, although the latter of course is less melancholic. (Which is quite ironic, because Harold and Maude mainly consists of the melancholy of its characters.)
What a tragedy that Hal Ashby seems to have made only two good movies, hm.
I looked into his other movies too, but I guess the consensus is indeed that his movies were all crap – except for these two which were absolutely brilliant. It’s SO funny! “I like to watch.” XXXXXXD
I saw Shirley MacLaine in quite a few movies: Her first movie, “The Trouble with Harry”, “The Apartment”, “Irma La Douce”. I also started watching “The Children’s Hour”, which annoyed me so much that it’s probably my oldest movie in the queue list out there. All in all, she had a tremendous amount of roles when she was older, which only proves what an impressive actress she is. Bottom line: I totally should have recognized her.
Harold and Maude had a happy ending indeed! Also “Being There” is totally melancholic – just look at Chance! XD Isn’t he melancholy in persona?