The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
Directed by Stephen Hopkins.
Starring Geoffrey Rush.
Peter Sellers is one of the great chameleons and comedians, effortlessly slipping between one character and another. Indeed, the main point of this adaptation of Roger Lewis’ book is that Sellers could be hundreds of characters yet had none of his own. He’s a tragic figure, whose life was cut short at the early age of 54.
Geoffrey Rush plays Sellers about as well as anyone could, perfectly emulating his mannerisms and with The Goon Show relegated to an introductory footnote, which is unfortunate. Initially we find him married to Anne Sellers (the always delightful Emily Watson), someone he apparently loved throughout his life, but they are soon divorced when Sellers’ instability, childishness — and lust for his beautiful co-stars — intervenes. Sophia Loren (Sonia Aquino) and Britt Ekland (Charlize Theron), the latter of which would become his second wife, are just two such women. We see brilliant recreations of some famous moments from his movies, including The Pink Panther and Dr. Strangelove, but the focus is more on his interactions with his mother (Miriam Margolyes), Blake Edwards (John Lithgow) and Stanley Kubrick (Stanley Tucci, who gets an hilarious introduction).
It’s obvious everyone is having blast playing these famous people, and I even forgot to mention Stephen Fry as the shifty psychic, Maurice Woodruff. Some details might have been changed for convenience and there is of course huge compression in time, with large chunks of his life excised, but the film succeeds in its purpose. Lewis’ book has its fans and its detractors, as neither the book nor the film paints a terribly positive picture of Sellers. Given all the information about his life, though, it seems reasonably accurate. As my fellow reviewer noted, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers isn’t exactly what you might expect from the director of Predator 2, but it is an interesting, creative and enjoyable biography, especially if you’re familiar with the characters involved.
***1/2 (out of four)
Josh Blackman
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers has two big surprises up its sleeve.
The first is that Geoffrey Rush plays a startlingly convincing Peter Sellers. Rush was not a particularly obvious choice to play the famed British comedian and actor (and in fact Kevin Kline — who more closely resembles Sellers and is similarly famed for his comic, leading-man qualities — was the name most frequently bandied about during the film’s development hell period). In an interview, Rush has said that when he told people he was cast in the film, the question he invariably received was the disheartening ‘Who are you playing?’ However, Rush does a remarkable job in capturing the essence of Sellers, especially in the recreations of his most famous film roles; Inspector Clouseau, Dr Strangelove, Chance the Gardener in Being There, etc. The fact that Rush will be ineligible for an Academy Award come next year’s Oscars (since the film is screening on HBO in America before it opens in theatres) seems almost irrelevant in the face of the kudos his performance has garnered.
The second big surprise of the film is that it was directed by Stephen Hopkins, who is better known for having helmed second-rate action films like Predator 2 and Lost in Space. Again, like Rush, not a particularly intuitive choice, but Hopkins assembles the film admirably and captures the evolving periods (50s, 60s, 70s, 80s) with finesse.
Ultimately the film itself is pretty good, not great. It calls to mind other Hollywood biopics (Auto Focus, Man on the Moon, Chaplin, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) in that the viewer is simultaneously following the story as well as searching for the seams in the actors’ portrayals of showbiz figures whose faces and voices are still fresh in our minds. Like Man on the Moon as well as American Splendor, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers enlivens things a little with postmodern tricks like Sellers occasionally appearing in costume as the other characters in the story (his mother, Stanley Kubrick, et al) and speaking directly to the audience. Also, like Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon, we never really find out what makes Sellers tick, he remains something of an enigma — although a petulant one at that — until the end.
If you’re a Peter Sellers fan, then the film is definitely worth seeing. Likewise if you’re a film buff. Otherwise, I’m not sure how much the film to offer to anyone else.
Brenton Priestley
