The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

Set in 1950s London, the story traces the rise of a radio performer into a broader screen celebrity. The period blends postwar Britain with the growing prominence of television, cinema, and celebrity culture, with the Goon Show and theatre providing the early training grounds for a life spent in front of audiences.

The film largely unfolds in 1950s London, a city buzzing with radio studios, theatres, and the early film industry. Its core settings span central London’s studios and the Dorchester Hotel, places where Peter Sellers navigates his ascent from radio comic to screen star. A snow-dusted sequence in the Swiss Alps provides a stark counterpoint, marking a turning point in the narrative and in Sellers' inner life.

🎭 Identity

Peter Sellers inhabits a multitude of faces—radio comedian, film star, and surrogate father—demonstrating how performance can eclipse personal self. Each disguise reveals emotional needs, creative ambition, and the loneliness beneath fame. The film uses these transformations to probe what identity means when shaped by others and audiences.

💔 Love and Betrayal

Romantic entanglements with Sophia Loren and Britt Ekland expose the strain fame places on personal relationships. Infidelity challenges the marriage and domestic life, highlighting the costs of celebrity on lovers and family. The narrative treats love as both an engine of creativity and a ruinous force.

🧭 Memory and Return

Memories, mentors, and the pull of past roles steer Sellers toward new opportunities while weighing on his sense of self. Peg’s influence and Maurice Woodruff’s guidance shape decisions, while the later shift toward Blake Edwards signals a redefinition of his artistic path. The film suggests memory can both illuminate and trap a life in cinema.