Arts

Film: The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

A memory: eleven years ago, in the common room at Nutford House; me and an Iranian student in fits of laughter in front of A Shot in the Dark, while everyone else shook their heads in bemusement.

I think Dad was a big fan of Sellers' work. I certainly remember frequent references to the Goon Show, and I'm sure we watched Pink Panther films together. Those times are to blame for my love of slapstick and the surreal.

But today was the first time I've seen Peter Sellers' name on a cinema marquee. It was an abbreviation of the film title rather than the name of the leading man. The film walked through Sellers' life, overdubbing and redubbing to the point where I wondered if it would ever be possible to know the man at all. It was very bittersweet.

So give me Strangelove and Clouseau. Though tonight's biopic suggest the characters were a root of unhappiness, it's them I want to see. Give me tripping over chairs and a custard-pie finale. These are the things I need to transport me from my today.