MovieChat Forums > Being There (1980) Discussion > Difficult to Watch

Difficult to Watch

posted 14 years ago by nitrocow
33 replies | jump to latest

You know those intentionally awkward scenes in movies that make you feel uncomfortable? Most comedies today have a scene like this, perhaps the lead character says something awkward to a girl he likes or whatever, but they only last a minute or two. I am fine watching the scariest horror movies or the most suspenseful mysteries, but these kinds of scenes really get to me.

Being There was the first movie I have seen where the entire movie is one embarrassing scene after the other. There was literally no break. Every time Chance had a conversation with another character my skin crawled. He was so awkward and misunderstood, I didn't find it funny, I found it agonizing. I was about to have anxiety attacks several times and had to look away! Like when Eve was trying to have sex with him, or when the Russian ambassador was talking to him in Russian, or he was talking to the elevator guy, etc

Did anyone else feel this way?

I'm not saying that it is a bad movie, I just had the hardest time getting through it. The final walking on water scene was curious and I like the interpretations that some people have thrown out there in other posts.

[–] bruno_prager 14 years ago

Yes, it was difficult to watch. And a little sad too. As popular and as well supported Chance became, he never seemed to be simply understood or really appreciated for who he was. Of course fate was kind on him: he wasn't in a gutter somewhere. It was just sad that people, his new friends, couldn't accept he was so slow and had to make him especially wise, for themselves. Nevertheless, he did leave behind him changed hearts and lives due to his refreshing kindness, his simple goodness.

[–] Edward_de_Vere 14 years ago

Yes, it was difficult to watch. And a little sad too. As popular and as well supported Chance became, he never seemed to be simply understood or really appreciated for who he was. Of course fate was kind on him: he wasn't in a gutter somewhere. It was just sad that people, his new friends, couldn't accept he was so slow and had to make him especially wise, for themselves. Nevertheless, he did leave behind him changed hearts and lives due to his refreshing kindness, his simple goodness.

The point is that Chance was completely vacuous. As an empty vessel, he was impossible to appreciate for who he was, because there was nothing there.

Consequently, people projected everything they wanted in a friend or colleague onto him. That would be impossible to do with any man who had any semblance of personality or intellect, but an empty vessel can always be filled with whatever you please.

[–] suky 12 years ago

The point is that Chance was completely vacuous. As an empty vessel, he was impossible to appreciate for who he was, because there was nothing there.

Consequently, people projected everything they wanted in a friend or colleague onto him. That would be impossible to do with any man who had any semblance of personality or intellect, but an empty vessel can always be filled with whatever you please.

Wow, I think you've got it, Edward. At least, that shed another new perspective on Chance for me. I like it.

And yes, I found it mildly difficult to watch, but that's the way any good movie should be. Good storytelling requires conflict. I was constantly expecting someone to find him out or something else terrible to happen to him, but the "twist" was that it never did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Of course it is happening inside your head ... but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

[–] insultcomicdog-242-76735 12 years ago

That's exactly right and for the life of me, I don't know why so many people seem not to "get" this.

Although maybe that makes some sense in this day and age when people actually admire the Kardashians.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] carlc64 9 years ago

Chance is a genius compared to the average right-wing troller!

[–] RockstarInvestments 9 years ago

Threatened much?

[–] jec1138 9 years ago

No, they were paying conservatives a compliment.

[–] thomas196x2000 8 years ago

Life will be easier my friend if, starting tomorrow you wake up, look at your ugly bald mug in the mirror, and say out loud, "I'm a dick". Because you are.

Every journey begins with the first step. And that first step involves knowing who you are, By starting at a baseline, you can build towards something.

For you, that building would come from the baseline of an ignorant, liberal a-hole, who projects his trolling BS onto others. This is a defense mechanism. When your world-view is childlike, well, you act like a child.

Best wishes in awaking from your useless liberal slumber and try to surpass the extremely low expectations we all have of you. Surprise us!

[–] jmr61 8 years ago

"by diyinventor » Tue Oct 29 2013 10:26:52
Like Obama really."

Kill yourself.

Piece of shiat.

[–] rudolph07 9 years ago

Great analogy! I love the movie but you do have to get it.

[–] Picnic10 8 years ago

I know that might be a message, perhaps even an official message, of the film but I prefer to think that Chance is, to use a term that I hope will not be used in future, 'idiot savant'. This is a terribly biased term used to describe 'a person who is extremely unworldly but displays natural wisdom and insight'. I propose that the supposed unwordliness, taken as a mental illness by some, may actually be a totally conscious, intelligent, choice to oppose change.

In a world supposedly obessesed with status, the world still uses terrible bias in deciding what it regards as being a good 'status'. A gardener who works and lives in a stately home and who has the respect of his upper class employer should be regarded as a man of some status indeed.

Any miserable, cynical, person can achieve a job that pays well. Chance sought not wealth but to be in relatively comfortable environments with pleasant people, which just so happened to be mainly rich people because they have less reason to be suspicious about someone employed as a gardener than they do about someone employed in a 'political' role.

I suggest that Chance was more like a magic vase where most observers can only see an empty vessel but, hidden at the side, are huge reserves of 'stuff'.
It is a British stiff upper lip in a way where you wear your learning lightly so as to not belittle but have a deep dedication to duty. Although Chance's academic learning may have been truly light, I strongly think that his emotional learning was not but it is something that, wisely, he would only reveal to someone who was as truly, dedicatedly, innocent as he was. A bit of a Jesus figure, a sacrificial lamb in the eyes of the many shallow. The ending where he walks on water is not only a metaphor for 'he performed miracles because he never allowed himself to think he couldn't' but also a suggestion that 'still waters run deep' and that there IS actually considerable depth to Chance, it's just that the modern, cynical, sarcastic, world does not have the mindset to want to recognise it as such.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 7 years ago

Chance is an empty vessel because when it appears it could be serendipity or chaos.

Ever tried, ever failed?
No matter.
Try again, fail again.
Fail better.

[–] PotassiumMan 14 years ago

There was some characters that I'm sure he felt uncomfortable around. Like that black woman in the beginning? She was creepy as Hell. She made gave me the willies.

[–] gnolti 14 years ago

Watching Chance's journey through the outside world is like watching a tightrope walker, or those Buster Keaton movies where the hero casually and repeatedly avoids near-disaster. You are supposed to experience a degree of unrelieved tension.

There, daddy, do I get a gold star?

[–] friendoffilm 10 years ago

I think that the black woman in the beginning was very patient, but, like most people, she had a breaking point, had reached her limits, lost her patience, and ultimately left Chance.

[–] jamesk48 14 years ago

I felt exactly the same way about this film. It's a series of cringe-inducing awkward moments - the worst kind, too. Where you know that the other characters who interact with Chance are believing they're speaking to someone who's not really all there (if you know what I mean). And then everything Chance says is usually followed by silence, so there were constant scenes of people looking confused. I felt like I was watching an awkward "Meet the Parents" scene over and over again. It's hard to explain, but it was difficult to get through 2 hours of that. The haunting ending made it worthwhile, though.

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all of its pupils.

[–] rwsmith29456 13 years ago

His encounters with 'real' people did rub on a lot of personal and societal issues. Our problem as the audience was that we KNEW Chance was socially and maybe even mentally impaired. I think the value in this movie lies in realizing that certain things do make us uncomfortable and whether or not it's a natural feeling or conventions produced by over-civilization.

[–] Perverzion 13 years ago

Oh God, I'm glad I wasn't alone feeling it--constantly! Though, I was able do adjust a little towards the ending. And even laughed out loud couple of times.

But movie itself is still brilliant - because of this uncomfortable feeling, too.

[–] bubblegum3091 13 years ago

Yeah I know what you mean, I had to hide behind a quilt some of the scenes... but it wasn't as hard to watch as most romantic comedies where they keep doing dumb things or have something to hide or some other part that keeps me on edge. The only scenes that were that bad where the ones where Eve tried to kiss him or played with herself for him and he was copying the TV and watching it and I was just so on edge that he would be found out. And the Russian ambassador bit... and the talk show a little. But it wasn't too awful.

[–] brupey-1 12 years ago

I like to watch!

[–] PhoenixPhuck 12 years ago

The only scene I really struggled with was the aforementioned bedroom scene with Shirley MacLaine...like it was physically hard to watch the whole scene...still a great movie...but I understand what the original poster is talking about...this movie gives me anxiety.

Even the most primitive society has an innate respect for the insane.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] friendoffilm 10 years ago

I saw the movie "Being There" once, and, having had problems myself (which I won't disclose.), I found it rather sad, and have never wanted to watch Being There again since.