The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

2004 "Never judge a man by his cover."
6.9| 2h2m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 01 October 2004 Released
Producted By: Company Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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The turbulent personal and professional life of actor Peter Sellers (1925-1980), from his beginnings as a comic performer on BBC Radio to his huge success as one of the greatest film comedians of all time; an obsessive artist so dedicated to his work that neglected his loved ones and sacrificed part of his own personality to convincingly create that of his many memorable characters.

Genre

Drama, Comedy, Romance

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Director

Stephen Hopkins

Production Companies

Company Pictures

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The Life and Death of Peter Sellers Audience Reviews

Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.
Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
braddugg One of the finest actors life brought to life by a superb actor.Peter Sellers, one of the iconic actors and who in his time was one of the finest actors, makes us see his other side of life. Of course, acting is a intricate part of him. Rather, we are made to see Peter Sellers up close and personal by Geoffrey Rush, a fine actor in his own right and after seeing his portrayal of sellers, I am now ranking Rush higher than many of his contemporaries. Peter Sellers is portrayed to be eccentric, introvert and fascinated by women he likes. He has by-far stretched to reach out to those he liked rather than loved. And moreover, he is made to be superstitious with hallucinations of a foreteller, coming and telling him what he must be doing next. His relationship with Blake Edwards, with whom he made a series of Pink Panther movies seems to began as letters B E are read out to be initials of his next parter by the foreteller. He believes that and makes another B E (Britt Ekland) as his partner. Such interesting things have made this biographical movie it quite an interesting ride and yes Geoffrey Rush made me sit and observe every nuance of his and at times clap for him too. I must say, Rush played Peter Sellers better than anybody could have done. Having said about the actor, now I was wondering how on earth did Stephen Hopkins who is an action movie director, courtesy PREDATOR 2, lap this up and did such a fine job. Ah, I must rather credit Roger Lewis who wrote the book, and also Chris Markus and Stephen McFeely for having written a teleplay with same name. The other departments did their job pretty well, but I would have loved more had Mr.Sellers passion to what his real thing is was shown, this movie is diabolical in a way coz it shows Sellers as one such Diabolique who just throws away what he loves, from his love to his wife to his passion for movies. I saw this movie twice just for the acting of Rush and indeed it's such an interesting fine film that I would love to see it again with friends some day. I am going with 4/5 for an interesting biography of one of the finest actors ever to be seen.
Bill Slocum The main problem with "The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers" is not unlike that of Sellers himself, as the film portrays him: Failure to decide on what it is.On the one hand, you get a celebration of Sellers' rich career in film comedy, with numerous characters of his popping in and out of the narrative and script references both blatant and subtle to expressions he created. Director Stephen Hopkins even apes the look-and-feels of various periods in Sellers' career.On the other hand, the film also wants to indict Sellers for being a cold narcissist who never had time for family concerns or the ability to look past his ego. Much of this is from the book of the same name by Roger Lewis on which the film was based. Lewis's book was a hatchet job; the film aims to be kinder, but in a perverse way, by presenting us with the same information but ascribing Sellers' failings to a bad mother."You simpering cow," she tells him early on, when he explains to her he may not have the face for a film career. "You want to be a failure like your father? Keep mewling about contentment!"The big plus the film has going for it is Geoffrey Rush's lead performance. He doesn't look much like Sellers early on, and he has trouble with the voice (so did Sellers, though, to the point of once telling a Time reporter he had no idea what he actually sounded like.) But he nails the characterizations and vocal inflections so well you want to look past that, and by the 1970s, when Sellers was roughly of the same age as Rush when he made this film, he not only sounds the part, but looks it, too. Throughout the film, his ability to put on various Sellers' masks reminds you both of Sellers' supreme talent and his labile liability.The script is weak, though; too episodic and concerned with surfaces. By trying to present an overview of Sellers' entire adult life, from his time as a member of the classic "Goon Show" troupe to his last year on earth, the film never settles in on a direction or storyline that captures our interest. If you are a Sellers fan going in, like me, you will enjoy the density of references to various bits of business throughout his career, and enjoy scenes here and there for their inventiveness or likely authenticity. But if you just want to see a biopic of an interesting fellow, you will be as lost as any of Sellers' unfortunate wives before this is over.That does bring up a positive about "Life And Death": Its liveliness. Rush especially keeps things running and jumping, playing several of the other characters at various points by aping the actors playing them. I wasn't impressed by Stanley Tucci as Stanley Kubrick, for example, but found Rush as Tucci as Kubrick hilarious. He's really a terrific mimic, on par with Sellers, even to the point of capturing Sellers' unique physicality and subtle eye movements.But Rush's performance is the one thing in this movie worth seeing, and it's not enough to capture a larger purpose or sense of vision. "Life And Death" is a film that wants to present us the enigma of absence as presence, and only gets the absence part right.
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.
Metal Angel Ehrler Peter Sellers holds a perennial place amongst the greatest actors of our time, rivaling only Charles Chaplin in his ability to portray the human comedy as vividly and as hysterically as possible without relieving his character from being true and connecting with the audience. So it's no surprise that Stephen Hawkins decided to make a biopic about his work. And who should he chose to portray the famous, iconic late Peter Sellers? None other than Geoffrey Rush, a masterful actor who, besides being able to imitate Sellers extraordinarily, looks like Sellers a great deal too.Like any biopic, the film follows our lead character Peter Sellers as he progresses from being a simple radio voice-over in funny ads to a big screen international sensation, and along the way, the film digs deep into Sellers' subconscious (as it were), ergo revealing the so-called "truth" behind the polyphacetic actor who revealed a great many personalities unto the world but chose to hide his own.Geoffrey Rush is, of course, perfect in his role. I mean, you should see him do Dr. Strangelove or Inspector Clousseau. He's hysterical! And even if he's not imitating Sellers to a tee, he really does channel Sellers body and soul, giving what I believe to be one of his best performances. We see how Sellers was lovingly bred by a materialist mother (Miriam Margolyes) who taught him to 'climb high', grasp success and shun anything that may come between him and his limelight- whether it be his wife (Emily Watson, in a perfectly-played role too), his kids or his sanity.Although...when it comes to sanity per se, I can't be sure Sellers himself was "sane", with the full meaning of the word. You see him as an overgrown child, impersonating each and every one of his meaningful acquaintances, and merging with the fictional characters he's played before to a point where we discover the "true" Sellers doesn't have a personality, but merely adapts.The film is not funny by itself (why, I may even go as far as declaring it to be dramatic entirely), but it rather absorbs its comedy from Sellers' most memorable comedy performances. And it gives us a nice behind-the-scenes look at how he worked closely with Hollywood's greatest directors, such as Blake Edwards and Stanley Kubrick.This is, on the whole, a fun film to peruse. It's no "Ray" or "Walk the Line", but it is refreshing and quite interesting. I mean, who wouldn't want to see a biopic about an A-list star who possibly had multiple personality disorder? Rating: 3 stars out of 4!!