Being There



"As long as the roots are not severed, all is well, and all will be well, in the garden."

The 1971 Jerzy Kosinski novella Being There is now better known for its 1979 film adaptation.

Chance, the Gardener is a middle-aged, mentally-challenged man who has never been outside of the elegant townhouse he lives in, by orders of its owner "The Old Man". He has only two pastimes in life: gardening and watching television. Not long after the story opens the Old Man is discovered dead. In the aftermath Chance is told by the lawyers who have come to close the house - and who have no record of a gardener employed there, much less living there - that he must leave. Thus, he packs a suitcase of clothes (all hand-me-downs from the Old Man) and his remote control and heads out into the world. Soon enough, he is accidentally struck by a limousine and his leg is injured. The passenger, Eve Rand, happens to be the wife of an elderly, dying financial titan, Ben; since his mansion is now partially set up as a hospital, she invites Chance to recover there. On the ride over, she mishears his name as "Chauncey Gardiner". Though honest by nature, he doesn't realize she's making a mistake, and things snowball from there. Both Eve and Ben take a shine to this ruined businessman (well, that's what they think he is - he has such nice clothes, and is so polite), and the latter introduces him to the President of the United States. When asked him what he thinks of the current economic climate, Chance - confused and grasping at the word "growth" -- replies with the quote above. Both men are impressed, and soon Chauncey Gardiner has become one of the most powerful people in America, if not the world...

Arguably the reader most touched by this successful satire was actor Peter Sellers, who heavily identified with Chance's fate to be only what others want/need him to be. He was determined to play the role in a film, which took about seven years to get off the ground as his star had fallen far by the early 1970s. Thus, the latter entries he did in The Pink Panther series were largely to reestablish his bankability and reputation. Between this and director Hal Ashby's own rising star (Sellers was a fan of Harold and Maude and immediately pegged him to direct) by way of films like Shampoo and Coming Home the film finally arrived in 1979. It is a close adaptation of the book, albeit with some significant expansion and, perhaps most famously, a Twist Ending. It is also Sellers' last film, and regarded by some fans -- as well as himself -- as his Crowning Moment of Awesome.

To this day, a politician criticized for being all style/sound bites and no substance or even intelligence is likely to be compared to Chance. Compare and contrast Forrest Gump.

Being There is on the Roger Ebert Great Movies List, and was named to the National Film Registry in 2015.


 * Adam and or Eve
 * Adaptational Attractiveness and Informed Attractiveness: The former is inverted with Chance -- when you think of a combination of Cary Grant and early-'70s Ted Kennedy, a graying, overweight Peter Sellers is not who comes to mind. As a result, the latter is invoked when the senator's wife tells Eve that "He's very, very sexy!" (that said, there are Sellers fangirls who do find Chance extremely attractive).
 * Adaptation Expansion and Pragmatic Adaptation: The film fleshes out many of the characters and there's a significant addition in Dr. Robert Allenby, but also removes extraneous material by combining the two maids into one, dropping the Russians' attempts to figure out Chance's identity as it only duplicates the FBI/CIA search, etc.
 * Also Sprach Zarathustra: With the Deodato version, that is.
 * Arc Words:
 * "I like to watch."
 * "Life is a state of mind."
 * Big Fancy House: In the film, the Rand estate -- represented by the Real Life Biltmore Estate.
 * Black Comedy: Death, socio-economic disparities between races (movie only), mental retardation, government spying, extramarital relationships...all treated seriously, and yet it's still funny.
 * Brick Joke: The message to Raphael that Chance is told to deliver.
 * The Caretaker: The Old Man and his maids were this to Chance until the Old Man's death. The Old Man was definitely over-controlling; the book says he warned Chance he would be institutionalized if he ever left the house. (Worse, as Roger Ebert notes in his Great Movies essay, "Perhaps he is his son.") The movie version suggests the black maid Louise was closer to Chance than anyone else he ever knew. Ironically, she completely resents his success as "Chauncey" because she knows what he really is; she chalks it up to his being white.
 * Covert Pervert: Subverted hard. Chance's "I like to watch" is misinterpreted by everyone that he's a voyeur. In reality, he just likes to watch television.
 * Crystal Ball Scheduling: With the exceptions of a clip of the President and Chance's talk show appearance, every clip seen on a TV in the film -- and there are many, including ones seen in the background -- is from a real show/commercial. And most of them were airing, new or as reruns, around the time of the film's making and release. They comment on or underscore the situation at hand or just Chance's personality; others become something Chance adapts to his own situation.
 * A Date with Rosie Palms: Eve takes Chance's comment that "he likes to watch" entirely the wrong way.
 * Eiffel Tower Effect: The movie's set in Washington, D.C., but since the P.O.V. is confined to the townhouse until Chance leaves, and the townhouse is not in the nicest part of town, we don't see any landmarks until he's wandered far (up to that point, we only get one hint as to the setting: a Washington Post ad on TV).
 * Equal Opportunity Evil: Averted with an all-black street gang.
 * Everything Is Racist: Louise assumes Chance's success is due to the fact that he's white.
 * The Film of the Book
 * Fish Out of Water: Chance. Luckily, he adapts quickly.
 * The Fool: Chance.
 * Good Adultery, Bad Adultery
 * Good -- Ben has no problem with Eve's attraction to Chance because he's dying and would be happy to know she would be taken care of, thus freeing her up to woo the unsuspecting gardener.
 * Bad -- (Movie only) The lawyers who come to close the house are a male-female duo who are carrying on an affair behind the back of the man's wife (who is getting suspicious).
 * Good Morning, Crono: The opening sequence of the movie follows Chance as he's awakened by the TV in his bedroom, and he proceeds to tend to his garden (there's a TV in the greenhouse), watch some more TV in his bedroom, and then go down to the dining room to wait for breakfast and watch more TV.
 * Hilarious Outtakes: The end credits run over footage of Sellers constantly breaking down laughing during a monologue that was ultimately cut from the film. Sellers thought this was a violation of the movie's tone and tried to have them removed. The tone of the film (and especially the actor's death) makes the outtakes seem more melancholy than anything else. It doesn't help that Sellers is lying face-up on a table wearing a dark tailored suit to deliver the speech, thereby resembling a corpse, as a film journal put it in a retrospective article not long after he died.
 * Ice Cream Koan: Chance's "wise sayings".
 * The Immodest Orgasm: Eve does this, after having misunderstood Chance's "I like to watch" message.
 * Innocent Inaccurate: Poor Chance is essentially kicked out of his home, left to wander the streets (this is worse in the movie, because the house is in a rundown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.), and becomes a respected political figure through sheer misunderstanding. He doesn't realize -- much less understand -- this alternating cruelty and kindness, but just goes with it.
 * Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Avoided. While the movie is often lumped in with Forrest Gump and Rain Man (see Tropic Thunder), Chance's mental disability is not key to his success or inspiring others. He's just extremely lucky, and the others are extremely dim. This aversion is much more prominent in the novel, whose overall tone is somewhat more contemptuous. Chance is a pathetic human defect & the fact that the bourgeoisie see him as anything more reveals their own decadence & degeneracy.
 * Ironic Echo: Robert's use of Chance's phrase "I understand."
 * Late Arrival Spoiler: The movie's Twist Ending, whopper that it is, tends to be spoiled. Commercials for TV airings of the film, the trailer for the biopic The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (in which it is recreated), and many reviews, including Roger Ebert's essay about the film in his "The Great Movies" series. And don't watch the retrospective featurette on the 2009 DVD release before you watch the movie either, or check the scene selection screen...
 * The Loins Sleep Tonight: The President suffers from this, a literal reflection of his corresponding political impotence.
 * Lonely Rich Kid: Chance fits the trope quite well, save for his physical age and his unawareness of his situation. Eve and Ben have aspects of this, as applied to adults, as well: Eve admits she doesn't have many friends (and they're mostly older than she is), and the Rand estate is apparently only populated by servants and medical professionals. Ultimately, they need Chance and he needs them to fill in the empty spaces in their lives.
 * Madwoman in the Attic: Chance.
 * Man Child: As Louise the maid puts it to Chance in the film, "You're always gonna be a little boy, ain't ya?"
 * May-December Romance: Eve and Ben.
 * Meaningful Funeral:
 * Messianic Archetype: Subverted with Chance, who comes across as this but only because he's constantly misunderstood. ...
 * Meta Casting: Peter Sellers took this trope into his own hands when he decided he was meant to play Chance -- Sellers had often stated that he had no real personality beyond his characters; now he could play someone who has no real personality beyond other people's perceptions.
 * Mistaken for Profound: Chance's "economic statements" are misinterpreted as deep metaphors.
 * Mood Whiplash: The Old Man died in his sleep and when Chance goes up to see the body, it's still in his bed. Chance sits down on the foot of the bed, turns on the TV, and.
 * Mysterious Past: Played straight and parodied. The novel establishes that Chance doesn't know who his father is; he was told his mother died in childbirth. Parodied in that the CIA, FBI, and so on are trying to track down "Chauncey Gardiner's" background, but can't come up with anything because there is no birth certificate, etc. for Gardiner to be tracked with. Having been isolated so completely from the world, Chance likely doesn't have any of these things anyway!
 * No Ending: Famously so. "Life is a state of mind".
 * No Name Given: Chance only knew his benefactor as "the Old Man" (in the film, the lawyers refer to him as a "Mr. Jennings"). We never learn Chance's last name; he introduces himself to others only as "Chance, the gardener". He may not even have one.
 * One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Most of Chance's interactions with others are these.
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: In the novella, Eve's nicknamed "E.E." after her initials (her middle name is Elizabeth) and everyone refers to her as such. The movie sticks with Eve instead, probably because "E.E." would have sounded strange on screen when spoken.
 * Parental Abandonment: Chance's mother died in childbirth according to the novella, and the (largely absent) father figure of The Old Man dies early on.
 * Parody Sue: Most of the other characters are affected by Chance's being there; it's just that the traits they cherish in him are ones they believe he has based on their own assumptions. Also, in the book, he's described by a character as resembling a cross between Ted Kennedy and Cary Grant.
 * Peter Sellers: And how!
 * Prophetic Name: Two.
 * Chance was named such, according to the book, because "he was born by chance." The Meaningful Name becomes prophetic when his chance encounter with Eve and the series of subsequent misunderstandings bring him to power.
 * Eve is the first person he spends time with at length outside of the townhouse -- and his garden.
 * Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic: Sellers essentially used this trope in creating Chance's manner of speaking; it would have to be completely devoid of realistic diction/inflection because his language development would have been primarily based on how people on TV speak...
 * Roger Ebert Great Movies List
 * Satire, Parody, Pastiche: Definitely a satire (one parodied by Mad Magazine).
 * Small Secluded World: The Old Man's townhouse is this for Chance; television provides most of his knowledge of the world beyond it.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: Thanks to Crystal Ball Scheduling, this pops up a few times; for instance, you may never listen to quite the same way again without thinking of Chance and Eve first arriving at the Rand estate.
 * Spock Speak: Chance's manner of speaking, especially his quiet inflection, invokes this trope.
 * Steven Ulysses Perhero: Reversed in Chance's case!
 * Twist Ending: Only in the film version. In the final shot This also qualifies as:
 * Achievements in Ignorance: One interpretation.
 * Banned in China: Because it was potentially offensive to, the original South African cut dropped this scene.
 * Gainax Ending
 * Magic Realism
 * Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: Enough in the movie that a Rule of Three running gag results ("Does it have a television?").
 * Un Entendre: "I like to watch." (He means television!)