Moi, Peter Sellers

Titre original : The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

2004
18
2h 2min

NOTE IMDb

6,9/10

15 k

MA NOTE

Charlize Theron, John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Watson in Moi, Peter Sellers (2004)

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Biography Comedy Drama Romance

L'adaptation cinématographique du livre de Roger Lewis sur l'acteur célèbre pour son rôle de l'Inspecteur Clouseau dans les films de la Panthère Rose.L'adaptation cinématographique du livre de Roger Lewis sur l'acteur célèbre pour son rôle de l'Inspecteur Clouseau dans les films de la Panthère Rose.L'adaptation cinématographique du livre de Roger Lewis sur l'acteur célèbre pour son rôle de l'Inspecteur Clouseau dans les films de la Panthère Rose.

Voir les informations de production sur IMDbPro

NOTE IMDb

6,9/10

15 k

MA NOTE

Voir les informations de production sur IMDbPro

Récompensé par 9 Primetime Emmys
- 31 victoires et 35 nominations au total

Anecdotes
Peter Sellers did not give a pony to his son Michael as shown in the film. He gave it to his younger daughter by Britt Ekland several years later. The change was made in order to compress events for dramatic purposes. According to the screenwriter, the horse disappeared after a couple of weeks, and when his daughter wanted to know where it was, he replied that he had given it to Princess Margaret.

Gaffes
A cinema marquee advertises Ghost in the Noonday Sun (1974) despite the fact that this film was shelved until after Sellers' death and never received a theatrical release. Similarly, Le blockhaus (1973) didn't have a U.K. theatrical release but is shown playing on a London marquee.

Citations
[At Peter's wedding to the Swedish starlet Britt Ekland]
Peg Sellers: You've only known that bleedin' Nazi for 3 weeks.
Peter Sellers: Peg, I couldn't be happier.
Peg Sellers: Why are you making the same mistake all over again?
Peter Sellers: Because, my love, they won't let me marry you.

Crédits fous
The frame freezes and the end credits start. After some informations about the last part of life of Peter Sellers have scrolled up the screen, the credits stop and the camera suddenly pulls back, revealing Geoffrey Rush watching the end titles sitting in front of a monitor on a studio set. He turns toward the camera, waves, gets up, leaves the set and walks to a trailer. The camera tries to follow him inside, but he turns and says "You can't come in here". The door closes, and the camera zooms in on the sign with the name "Peter Sellers". The film again fades to black and we see the rest of the end credits.

Versions alternatives
The BBC broadcast a version with some scenes rearranged, some scenes shortened and a few other edits:
The montage of Peter Sellers' earlier films is cut together with the scene where he moves into a big new house with Anne and the children. Also the song 'I Haven't Told Her, She Hasn't Told Me' sung by Peter is played instead of Frank Sinatra's 'Fly Me to the Moon'.
The first Maurice Woodruff scene and the car showroom scene are moved ahead to after Peter's father's death scene, swapping places with the scene where he phones Harry Secombe asking if he wants to come over for a beer. The car showroom scene also replaces the Shirley Bassey song 'Big Spender' with incidental music composed for the film.
The first Maurice Woodruff scene begins with a shot of Peter smoking a cigarette in the waiting room before cutting to a shot of Woodruff's book, which is where this scene begins in the original version.
The Harry Secombe phone call scene is shortened, cutting out the bit where Peter tells his son to go to his room.
A shot of Peter as Dr. Strangelove saying "Boom" is added after the Dr. Strangelove filming scenes.
Peter and Britt Ekland's wedding reception scene is shortened slightly, the shots of the children on the carousel are cut out.
The scene where Peter drives Britt to the hospital to give birth is shortened, cutting out footage of the car going past a church, pulling out in front of another car and Peter telling Britt to keep breathing.
The very brief scene of Peter seeing a plastic surgeon followed by shots of him in a makeup chair and taking pills is cut out.
The scene where Maurice Woodruff tries to get Peter to do another Pink Panther film is shortened, the bit where he channels Peter's mother and tells him to do the film is cut out. Also a different take is used when Maurice gets out the film script, instead of saying "Are you absolutely sure about that?", he says "Are you sure about that?".
The scene of Peter in his trailer dressed as the old salty sea dog is moved back to in between the scenes of him agreeing to make The Pink Panther Strikes Again and the film's premiere, making it look as if this character is part of that film when actually he appears in Revenge of the Pink Panther. In the original version this scene takes place later on, after a shot of Peter picking up a Revenge of the Pink Panther script. Whereas this version changes this shot to show a Being There script.
The scene of Peter in character as Blake Edwards is shortened. The line at the end of the scene "What did he do after me? The only thing he never gave up on" is cut out.
The montage of Peter doing character preparation for Being There and burning his old movie stuff is arranged differently. The overlaid shots of him doing The Goon Show and playing Strangelove, Clouseau are removed, although a shot of him burning a photo of President Merkin Muffley and a shot of the Being There novel in his pocket are added.
In the first shot of Blake Edwards waiting for Peter at the restaurant, instead of starting with a close up of the script for The Romance of the Pink Panther and cutting just before a waiter pours water into a glass, it starts with the water pouring into the glass, using a different part of this same take.
At the ending, when after the closing text it zooms out to show Peter watching it on a monitor and getting up to go to his trailer after which the end credits roll, this version inserts after the text another shot of Peter standing in the snow, then the cast list rolls before the zoom out to Peter watching it on a monitor. Also in this version The Kinks' song 'A Well Respected Man' starts playing as Peter gets up to go to his trailer, in the original version incidental music is played here instead and 'A Well Respected Man' doesn't start playing until the credits roll.

Connexions
Featured in At the Movies: Épisode #1.9 (2004)

Bandes originales
What's New Pussycat
Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David
Performed by Tom Jones
Courtesy of The Decca Music Group Ltd.
Licensed by kind permission from the Universal Film & TV Licensing Division

Avis des utilisateurs142

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8/10

I thought Geoffrey Rush's performance was fantastic and makes the movie totally worth watching.

The story begins with the Goons and ends just after his role in the movie, Being There, thirty years later. A lot of the film features recreations of famous moments in Seller's acting life, such as appearing on "The Goons" or in "The Pink Panther". There are some particularly hilarious insights into his development of the "Inspector Clouseau" character, including an explanation of why he ended up hating the character so much.

As such, it really only touches the surface of his life story, but it does give you an intense understanding of the character. A character which, in the style of Greek tragedy, had a major flaw. For me, the flaw was Seller's total lack of confidence, perhaps due to his appearance, which he appears constantly to have overcompensated for.

Curiously enough, since Sellers is shown portraying great emotions, I was never actually moved myself, except perhaps for the occasion when he is violent towards Britt Ekland and in a particularly galling moment with his children.

The movie reaches its crescendo with Sellers' performance in "Being There" in which it's suggested the reason why Sellers so wanted to play the man without a personality was because he, himself, had no personality.

A few people at my workplace commented they thought the movie was far too stylized. Although I can see their point, and I agree I was never really touched by the movie, I thought Geoffrey Rush's performance more than made up for this. Rush plays not only Sellers, but several other characters in a Sellers-like "Dr Strangelove" kind of way, and achieves all of it with gusto. I also really enjoyed the performance of Miriam Margoyles as Sellers' mother, Peg, with whom he seems to have enjoyed an intense, almost Oedipal relationship.

I thought Geoffrey Rush's performance was fantastic and makes the movie totally worth watching.