Alex Deleon
Not in the 2004 BFI Film Festival but on commercial release here in London, is a biopic, the subject of which is obvious, and which will undoubtedly arouse curiosity around the world. This biting "docu-drama" is directed by newcomer Stephen Hopkins and stars Australian Geoffrey Rush in the title role of a not very savoury Sellers. The picture has opened to "mixed reviews" - a nice way of saying that most local critics hate it, nor has it been a particularly strong box-office draw. Nevertheless, like it or not, this is a compelling study of the career of the major figure of late twentieth century screen comedy and, into the bargain, a searing dissection of his private life.It is always a bit hard to accept a fictionalised portrayal of a personality whose physical image is still so much alive in the collective film going consciousness. Sellers died a mere 24 years ago, but it seems like much less, since many of his pictures are still frequently revived - notably the "Pink Panther" series, "Dr. Strangelove" and Kubrick's "Lolita". Geoffrey Rush who, with horn rimmed glasses has a passable resemblance to Sellers, but more important, has the same jittery, openly schizophrenic personality, was without a doubt the right actor for the job and delivers a telling, if not exactly uncanny, portrayal. Devoted Sellers fans, of which there are many, may find the extremely unflattering revelations of his private life, especially the grisly manner in which he treated his family - wife (poor Emily Watson - she got a better deal in "Breaking The Waves"), children and mother - distasteful if not downright insulting. This may, in fact, account for the picture's relatively weak box-office performance so far. People just don't want to know that their favorite comedian was such a creep.The film, though star studded (John Lithgow as Blake Edwards, Charlize Theron as Britt Ekland, Christopher Fry as Sellers' spiritual adviser) has certain weaknesses - a tendency to telegraph some of its punches - but, overall it must go down as one of the more incisive studies in recent memory of the treatment of genius by the Hollywood establishment ~ and vice-versa. The point is made, over and over, that Sellers was in private life an empty shell of a man, which made him a horrible husband, disgusting father, and wimpy womaniser, but is precisely why he was so perfectly able to so fully inhabit the skins of the wild variety of characters he portrayed. One of many outstanding sequences in the film is when Sellers goes completely ga-ga over Sophia Loren during her visit to England in 1960 to do a film with him called "The Millionairess". Firmly convinced that he can win her away from her much older husband, Carlo Ponti, he flips and flops all over the place, finally making a complete ass of himself as she walks out on him in a secluded restaurant. The actress who plays Loren, Sonia Aquino, is even more busty, statuesque, and flourishing than the real Loren was, even at that time - m-mm - can't wait to see more of her! His successful courtship of Swedish beauty, Britt Ekland (via South African beauty, Theron) with the great line, "Hurry up and say 'yes' - I only have the band for another half hour" - is another high point of the film and also ends with a walkout and a divorce when his flimsy false-front machoism once again fails him. The real strong point of the film is the reconstruction of key scenes and characters from many of Sellers' landmark films: The hot-line sequence to the Kremlin in "Strangelove", various Clouseau extracts from the "Pink Panther" films, the famous Hindoo accent bit, and the representation of his tempestuous primadonna bickerings with famous directors such as Blake Edwards and Stanley Kubrick. One of the weak points of the film was the miscasting of a sombre John Cassavetes look- alike to portray the flamboyant Kubrick. This actor (Stanley Tucci) proclaims to the camera that the secret of direction is 'total control' - which Kubrick certainly exerted. The trouble is that Mr. Tucci appears to be more controlled than controlling. In fact, he seems to be playing in a different picture altogether. The only thing Stanley Tucci has in common with Stanley Kubrick is the first name. Lithgow, while emanating immense largesse, is less than convincing as a theoretically commanding Blake Edwards. One of the most painful scenes in the film is where Sellers ruthlessly denounces Edwards as a "totally no-talent director" before an enthusiastic crowd at the premiere of one of their most successful films. Talk about ingratitude ... I can scarcely imagine that the real Blake Edwards didn't tell him to just go F-himself on that occasion ...In any case, from the late fifties until his final film, "Being There", 1970, for which he received a Best Actor Oscar nomination, Peter Sellers was the most versatile, the most ubiquitous, and the most acclaimed screen comedian of his time - a true celebrity, if something of a schlemiel in his disastrous private life. Director Stephen Hopkins has captured an amazing amount of this and of real film history in a film of normal running time, which is, in itself, an accomplishment worthy of noteAlex, Muswell Hill, London, October 21, 2008
cracker
Not an extreme Peter Sellers fan, but appreciated his work in many movies. Actually bought the disc in a bargain bin, and it is the first movie I've ever bought that I have thrown away outright after viewing it.Unfavorable biographical portrayals certainly have their place, but when it becomes obvious in the first few minutes of a film that something is "wrong" with the way the protagonist is being portrayed, that there is unrealistic animus, and then as the film progresses, blatant, bizarrely fanciful character assassination is the result, that is reprehensible, disrespectful of the dead, and disrespectful of a great comedian.Someone had it out for Mr. Sellers when this movie was made, the only thing they could have added would be Sellers sodomizing a child or pushing a concentration camp prisoner into an oven to complete the extent the hacks who made this film went to rubbish Peter Sellers.How do I know that this movie is irredeemably negatively slanted? After all, I never knew Sellers and have not done any serious research. Sellers was a star, but not an indispensable one, not a particularly powerful nor wealthy one. No human being could behave as the film portrays and actually get work or remain married for even a month, the portrayal is that vile. A king or billionaire -might- pull it off, not Peter Sellers. If the man was as insane and evil a sociopath as this film claims, his career would have been over long before it started. The portrayal of Sellers in this movie makes "Mommy Dearest" look like Mother Teresa.I didn't think Rush did a good job. The considerable talents of Watson and Theron were completely wasted, surely Britt Eklund has more personality than was portrayed in the movie.Admittedly, entertainers have a reputation for eccentricity and being difficult to work with, some more than others. This film goes far, far over the line though. You will likely not enjoy watching this, and have been warned.
sddavis63
You want a comedian to be happy. It just goes with the territory. So it's a bit jarring to watch this bio-pic of comedian and movie star Peter Sellers. Sellers was very funny and gave life to some memorable characters (most notably, I suppose, Inspector Clouseau and Dr. Strangelove) but the portrait painted here of his personal life isn't filled with laughs at all. In fact, this film paints a picture of a troubled, emotionally immature and childish man with perhaps a bit of an Oedipus Complex (certainly dominated by his mother at the very least) who isn't able to make any other relationship (even with his own children) work successfully, and who gets overwhelmed by the characters he plays to the point at which he largely loses himself in the process. Sellers wants to break loose and set aside the disguises and become known as himself, but so successful was he with the various characters that he can't get the opportunity to do that. The film moves back and forth between fantasy and reality - and appropriately so, since that's the depiction of Sellers' own life, as he struggles to maintain a grip on reality - that struggle being shown most clearly when he imagines himself in a romance with Sophia Loren, only to have her reject him out of hand when he tries to turn his fantasy into reality. His marriages to his first wife Anne (Emily Watson) and his second wife Britt Eklund (Charlize Theron) are well portrayed, as is his troubled relationship with his children, and his working relationship with director Blake Edwards (John Lithgow.) The closing captions, which reveal that his soon to be divorced fourth wife ended up inheriting almost his entire multi-million dollar estate (because he died before the divorce was final) while his children got about $2000 US each were actually very sad.I thought this was a pretty convincing portrait. I've always thought Sellers was a good actor, although he was never at the top of my list of favourite actors. This is worth watching for those with an interest in the man's life, although it will certainly remove forever the image of a happy comedian.
