Being There is one of the most brilliant satires that I have ever seen. Being a satire, of course, it shouldn’t surprise you that Peter Sellers is the star, and his performance is nothing short of extraordinary. Not counting his masterful triple-performance in Dr. Strangelove, this is my favorite Sellers role.

Sellers plays the main character Chance the Gardener, an illiterate, socially inept hermit who has only ever done two things in his life: tend to the garden and watch TV. After he is evicted from the house of his employer, Chance wanders the streets (in a wonderful sequence set to Eumir Deodato’s arrangement of “Also Sprach Zarathustra”) until he is slightly injured by a car. The owner of the car, Eve (Shirley Maclaine) takes Chance to her massive mansion to help him recover. There he meets her dying, powerful husband.

The film is an incredible statement on the perception of power and politics in the 1970s. Through a series of coincidences and misunderstandings, Chance is transformed into Chauncy Gardiner. His fame skyrockets after meeting the President and even further after appearing on a talk show and rambling about gardening.

Overall, public reaction is that Chauncy is a brilliant political advisor. Chauncy, however, is unfazed (even unaware) of all of this. He is simply a gardener, and the elite see in him what they want to see. To some he is a political savior or a guiding light in troubling times. Chance, however, just continues to watch TV, rejecting the advances of Eve. The final scene is expertly orchestrated, and the final shot leaves a lasting impression that I will remember for years to come.

Being There is a remarkably relevant film today. In a highly politicized world, political figures are highly influential due to five-second sound bites and hugely hypothetical statements. This films skewers that perception, essentially calling everyone except the viewer a blockhead, and more importantly, making that assertion highly believable.