Being There (1979) DVD

Peter Sellers stars as Chance, a gardener inadvertently thrust in to the upper echelons of American politics in this warm-hearted comedy from cult director Hal Ashby.

A clear inspiration for Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump (and infinitely superior to its thematic heir), the film plays with the assumptions and misunderstandings made of Chance – a middle-aged man with the mind of a child – by all those who encounter him.

Sellers gives a superb, understated performance in one of his last screen roles, and Ashby repeats the trick of Harold and Maude by handling a surreal plot with admirable subtlety.

Complex, funny and touching, Being There has lost none of its charm over 30 years, and although some may find it slow in places it’s worth sticking around for its much debated ambiguous closing scene.

Jack Arnott