It's hardly a flattering picture of Sellers - who comes across as part tortured genius, part spoilt prima donna.

Sellers' story is fascinating and even his fans out there may find a few things surprising (although not necessarily pleasant).

The performances are top notch and the eclectic cast, including Edward Tudor Pole as Spike Milligan and Simon Gattis from the League Of Gentleman as Harry Secombe, are uniformly good, so why doesn't the film work?

One reason is the fact that some of the stylistic conceits, such as having Rush appear briefly as all the characters, are so distracting that it removes you from the film.

Granted, the reason for these is partly in homage to Sellers in Dr Strangelove and partly to emphasise how he thought of himself as existing behind the mask that was Peter Sellers, but they soon grate.

The critical reaction at Cannes this year was at times quite hostile which is odd given some of the rubbish that was flung at the audiences but maybe in the UK critics will be kinder as Sellers was one of the greatest comedians we've ever produced, even if he was a monster.

A co-production between the BBC and HBO, this is perhaps better suited to the small screen (though if Sylvia can get a theatrical release, this certainly can).

An interesting movie for both fans and non-fans, even if it's not 100% successful.

Adrian Zak