"But you always said Finland had a maudlin quality rendering it unsuitable as a holiday desinat...
"But you always said Finland had a maudlin quality rendering it unsuitable as a holiday desination" - Lou and Andy - can't beat them!
Member since:20.10.2004
Reviews:14
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As a great fan of Peter Sellers and having many of his films in my collection, when this film came out I thought it was a must see as far as I was concerned. It presented a side of Sellers which I had never considered, having seen him as purely man of comedy a role he portrayed himself as being so well in public.
The film manages to cover most of his life and starts by introducing you to one of his strongest relationships, that beween him and his mother - which runs throughout the film, it touches on the history of the family - how his mother had been on the stage herself and how he had been encouraged in this area from an early age.
It then goes on to show how Sellars firstly known for his hilarious roles in the Goon show wanted to build on his newly found fame and make it into the movies, struggling to get roles purely because he was known as being a voice man - then having adopted a disguise he finally manages to get a movie role.
This led to him making several great British Movies such as I'm alright Jack and The Mouse That Roared but Sellars wanted much more.
The film shows the brilliant moment where Sellers appears in his agents office and is offered the role of Clouseau that has just been turned down by Peter Ustinov - his initial reaction to the offer and his agents careful manipulation of him that would lead to his biggest film success to date.
The film portays Sellers as a tormented man - who always wanted more, nothing seems to show this as clearly as his failed attempt to gain the affections of Sophia Loren!
The film shows the sometimes awkward relationship he had with his wives and children - how sometimes he took his frustrations out on them - and how much he relied on mother - which sometimes pushed the wives out.
The love affair and subsequent marraige to Brit Ekland takes up quite a bit of the film - namey because it was at this time that he suffered his series of heart attacks - Sellers would never be the same again and remained a weakened man - through to the end of his life.
The film also covers Sellers dream of wanting to appear in a serious role - which of course he managed to do right at the end of his career.
I would have preferred to have seen more regarding the making of the Pink Panther series and his relationship with Blake Edwards (John Lithgow), but the film glosses over this as well as the relationship with his third wife.
Overall I found the film to be very watchable - but not quite what I expected - if you want to learn more about what drove Sellers the man and to know why he was who he was, then watch this film - if you just want to remember him as the funny man and genius that we all know and love him for - stick to his films!
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Production Year: 2003 - Drama - Director: Michael Winterbottom - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton, Om Puri, Jeanne Balibar
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
![The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers [DVD] [2004]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78517524.jpg "The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers [DVD] [2004]")
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