In this movie, Truman is a man whose life is a fake one... The place he lives is in fact a big studio with hidden cameras everywhere, and all his friends and people around him, are actors who play their roles in the most popular TV-series in the world: The Truman Show. Truman thinks that he is an ordinary man with an ordinary life and has no idea about how he is exploited. Until one day... he finds out everything. Will he react? Written by

Plot Synopsis:
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Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) is an insurance salesman leading an idyllic, peaceful life on Seahaven Island.

Truman also happens to be the star of the most popular live show in television history. The only problem is, he doesn't know it! In fact, the entire island of Seahaven is a complete fabrication; a massive set surrounded by a protective dome that produces the most sophisticated effects and imagery to mimic the sky, weather, and temperature of the real world. Set just off of what appears to be the coast of Florida, the dome is run by a massive staff hidden just beyond its barriers and managed by the artistically eccentric Director, Christof (Ed Harris). Christof has filmed Truman since just before his birth and sees the project as a ray of hope; a way to truthfully portray a person's life nonstop while maintaining their innocence.

It is on Day 10,909 of Truman's life that things begin to change. As he's getting ready for work, he greets his neighbors across the street (Fritz Dominique, Angel Schmiedt, and Nastassja Schmiedt), with his traditional greeting of, "Good morning! And in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night", before a mysterious object falls from the sky and lands near his car. When Truman looks up, however, the sky is clear and offers no explanation for the object, which we can see is obviously a studio light. As he drives to work, the radio reports that an aircraft flying over the island shed parts which leads Truman to believe that was the source of the fallen object. At work, Truman discreetly tears pieces of paper out of a magazine and stows them away before making a call asking for directory information to Fiji. He asks for a Lauren or Silvia Garland. When neither of the names bears results he hangs up just as his boss, Lawrence (Peter Krause), approaches and asks him to close a deal on Harbor Island. Reluctantly, Truman leaves but once he reaches the pier he is forced to return to work due to his fear of open water.

At home Truman spends some time gardening before his wife, Meryl (Laura Linney), returns from work with a chipper smile on her face. Afterwards, Truman visits with his long time friend, Marlon (Noah Emmerich), real name Louis Coltrane, where he confides the wish to leave Seahaven, quit his job, and travel to Fiji, echoing a childhood wish to explore (despite his teacher's (Muriel Moore) attempts to dissuade him by informing him that there was nothing left in the world to discover). Marlon feigns ignorance and says that he doesn't even know where Fiji is.

That evening, Truman sits alone on the beach looking out towards the water. He remembers a boating trip he took with his father (Brian Delate) as a child (Blair Slater) and requesting that they stay out at sea for just a bit longer. Though his father wanted to go back to shore, he complied. Shortly after, a strong storm hit and Truman's father was swept overboard and drowned. As he comes out of the memory it begins to rain on Truman...and just on Truman. When he realizes this, he stands up in shock as the rest of the sky finally opens up in a downpour, prompting him to rush home.

He tells Meryl about his plans to go to Fiji but she dismisses the idea, saying that their financial obligations are much more important. When he argues that it could be an adventure she counters by asking if having a baby would be a good adventure. She then suggests they go to bed. The following morning, as Truman drives to work, he spots a homeless man on the street. Looking closely he realizes that the man looks just like his father. Before he can get to the man, however, a number of people and strange obstacles spontaneously appear and the homeless man is taken away. Later that day, Truman questions his mother (Holland Taylor) about this over the phone but she refuses to believe any of it and dismisses the idea as wishful thinking.

That night, Truman retreats to the basement of his home where he begins to look through an old trunk filled with his personal mementos. He spies a red sweater with a white pin that says 'How will it end?' His memories bring him back to college where he and Marlon are in the homecoming band. Truman has his eye on an attractive young woman across the courtyard but is distracted when Meryl shows up. Over the next month or so, Meryl is inseparable from Truman until one evening when he is in the library studying. He looks up and sees the young woman from the courtyard whom he'd been admiring. He approaches her and learns that her name is Lauren (Natascha McElhone) but she tells him that she's not allowed to speak with him. Despite this, Truman asks if she'd like to go out with him sometime. She takes out a small piece of paper, writes quickly, and hands it to Truman. It says one word, 'now'. The two secretly rush out of the library. The cameras around the room lose them for a second but manage to spy them running out a nearby exit.

Truman and Lauren run towards the beach where they are able to share a moment of privacy. However, a vehicle approaches and Lauren becomes frantic. She tells Truman that her real name is actually Sylvia and tries to tell him the truth about the show as her 'father' appears on the dunes and calls for her. He comes down to collect her and tells Truman that she's delusional before announcing that they are moving to Fiji. Truman can only watch in puzzlement as they drive off, never to return. In the aftermath, Truman finds the red sweater that Lauren/Sylvia left behind.

As he returns from his memory, Truman takes the scraps of magazine that he'd been tearing out at work and reveals that he's been compiling a collage of a woman's face; Lauren/Sylvia's face as he remembers it.

The next day, as he drives to work, the radio in Truman's car begins to strangely broadcast every movement he makes, which are actually remarks from crew members observing him. Growing increasingly paranoid, Truman opts to walk around in the open air outside. He parks and ducks into a building. He makes his way towards the elevator and, as the doors open, is surprised to see, not an empty car, but an entrance to what seems to be a studio filled with people wearing headphones and eating sandwiches - the actors' break room. Before he can register what he's seeing, security grabs him and pushes him out of the building for trespassing.

Confused, Truman walks to a nearby market where he sees Marlon's service vehicle parked. Truman tries to explain to Marlon what he just experienced but Marlon passes it off as Truman trying to be funny. Truman pulls Marlon aside and tells him that he's his best friend and needs to confide that he's going to be going away for a while.

When he returns home, Truman finds Meryl and his mother looking at photos in an old album. They show him and look on together as the TV begins to play an old film called 'Show Me the Way to Go Home', a clear attempt to reassure the notion of never leaving home. As Truman looks back at the photo album, his eyes fall on a picture of his wedding day with Meryl. Looking closer, he sees that her fingers are crossed which implies that Meryl did not marry Truman truthfully.

Truman goes to a travel agency the next day to book a flight to Fiji but the agent (Judy Clayton) tells him that there are no available flights for at least a month. When he tries to take a bus to Chicago, the bus breaks down before it can leave the station.

When Meryl comes home from work, she finds Truman sitting in his car in the driveway, fixated on something. She goes to the car and sits with him but he tells her to be silent before predicting the appearance of every person along the street; as if they were on a fixed schedule - specifically, a lady on a red bike, a man with flowers, and a vintage Volkswagen beetle with a dented fender. Meryl tells him that his behavior is worrying but he decides to put his theory to a bigger test. He drives off down the street with Meryl who demands that they return home. When they come to a rotary, a traffic jam suddenly appears. Truman feigns disappointment and takes the car around the rotary multiple times. When he comes back to the blocked road all the cars have vanished and he continues towards the only bridge that leads off the island. However, Truman is forced to stop at the bridge when he realizes that he can't drive over because of his fear of water. Instead, he closes his eyes and slams his foot on the gas, forcing Meryl to drive. Victorious, Truman cries out as Meryl continues to try and convince him to return home. They pass a sign warning of forest fires and a line of flames shoots across the road, but Truman drives onward. The car is finally stopped just beyond a power plant that appears to have experienced a meltdown. Men in hazmat suits approach the car and apologize for the inconvenience but when one of them accidentally calls Truman by his first name (they would of course not know otherwise) Truman gets out of the car and attempts to make a break for it. The men chase after him and manage to capture him and return him to the island.

Once home, Meryl tries to console a dejected Truman by offering him a new drink she picked up. However, she promotes the item as if on a commercial which prompts Truman to ask who she thinks she's talking to. Meryl becomes upset and blames Truman's recent behavior but Truman becomes more frantic and tries to convince Meryl that there's something wrong with everything. Becoming scared, Meryl takes a peeler and aims it at Truman, telling him to keep his distance. When he grabs it away from her and puts her in a lock hold she calls out for 'someone' to stop him. Truman, in shock, releases her and demands to know what's going on. Marlon appears at the door and walks in with a case of beer, as if to casually hang out, and Meryl runs into his arms, crying that 'it's not professional'.

Marlon takes Truman out where they sit at the edge of a road, sharing the beers. Marlon tries to assure Truman that, if everyone was in on a massive scheme or conspiracy, he'd have to be in on it too. He tells Truman that the last thing he would ever want to do is lie to him, though in reality, he's saying this as Christof feeds him his words through an earpiece. Marlon then tells Truman the real reason he stopped by and took him out tonight. They stand and look behind them where a dark figure emerges from the mist. Marlon tells Truman that he was able to find the homeless man he'd seen and, as the man gets closer, Truman realizes that it is his father. The two embrace while Christof composes the cinematography from above and revels in his master shot of Truman weeping with happiness. Truman's father promises to make up for all the lost years.

Shortly after this moment a weekly TV show titled 'TruTalk' begins while a smaller screen in the right-hand corner of the television shows Truman as he eats his breakfast. Christof is interviewed and he explains the reasoning behind many things that have happened on the show. The purpose of 'killing' his father out at sea was to implant the fear of water in Truman so that he would have no wish of leaving the island. This decision was reinforced by his youthful wishes to explore and discover which often nearly led him to discover his own captivity. Bringing his father back now was done with the hopes to quell Truman's emotional turmoil and soothe him into remaining on the island despite all that's happened. Various security measures were taken in light of a few occurrences, one of which involved a Truman fan (Marco Rubeo) hiding himself in a Christmas present of Truman's when he was a child in order to get air-time.

A caller rings in and Christof accepts to answer questions. He recognizes Sylvia's voice as she berates Christof for keeping up the charade and imprisoning Truman within a mockery of life. Christof counters by saying that the real world is a prison and that what he has done is to actually give Truman the chance to lead a completely normal life, free of violence or pain and says that, should Truman discover the truth, he could leave.

The following day, Truman appears to be well and back to his normal self. He greets his neighbors and heads off to work where he meets a new coworker named Vivien (Meryl's appointed replacement as Truman's prospective female partner). That evening, Truman moves some things around his basement, appearing to reorganize, before pulling on some covers on a makeshift bed and falling asleep. After several hours of inactivity, even when Truman should be awake, Christof becomes suspicious while watching the video feed. He orders that the phone ring in the house. When Truman doesn't answer, much less move, Christof sends Marlon over, cueing him the entire time as to what to do. Marlon goes into the basement and pulls Truman's covers back to find a noise recorder and a gaping hole in the basement floor. At a loss of what to do or say, Christof does the unthinkable; he cuts the transmission.

The cease in transmission puts the world into a state of shock and Christof orders the entire staff on the island to form search parties. Performing a God-like move over the set, Christof commands the sun to rise to aid in the search. When the search on land has been exhausted, Christof suggests an impossible idea; search at sea. His intuition proves correct as cameras pan over the ocean and locate a lone sailboat with Truman at the helm. The live video feeds continue and Christof orders one of the actors to go out and fetch Truman. However, being actors, none of them know how to man a boat.

Christof utilizes his weather program to simulate a storm to entice Truman to go back to port. However, Truman battens down and yells to the skies in defiance. Angry, Christof increases the wind and turbulence, nearly causing Truman to fall overboard. Knowing that Truman will never back down, Christof pull the plug on the weather. Truman continues sailing, victorious, until the boat is rocked by a strong impact. Truman collects himself and finds that the bow of the ship has lodged into...the sky. He has come to the end of the dome. He gets off of the boat and examines the wall, following it a short ways until he finds a short staircase leading to an exit door. As he reaches for the handle, Christof speaks on the intercom system to Truman directly for the first time. He introduces himself as the creator who has been watching Truman since the day he was born and revealing his life as entertainment for a world beyond. Christof tries to convince Truman to stay within his world where he can live happily and without suffering or pain and tries to plant the idea that Truman is still deathly afraid of continuing on.

Truman appears deep in thought and Christof suggests that he say something. After all, the entire world is watching. Truman looks up and says, "In case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night." He bows as Christof looks on incredulously, opens the door, and leaves. An elated Sylvia jumps up from her living room floor and leaves her apartment as the rest of the world cheers tremendously at the finale of the Truman Show.

A saddened but resolute Christof removes his head piece and cuts the transmission.

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DoctorKay (dkolloge@gmx.de) from Germany
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Ashaming that the Academy of motion picture arts and sciences has never realized what a brilliant actor Jim Carrey really is. The is no explanation for him not getting the Oscar for the Truman Show, there is no excuse for not even nominating him for The Truman Show and Man on the Moon. I like the academy Awards, most of the time it is a fair thing, but in that year it was a disaster. How else can you explain that in the year of Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line and of course The Truman Show the most boring and joyless film of all time Shakespeare in Love gets eight, I repeat, eight Oscars and the Truman Show gets none? I think it is because Jim has made so much Comedy, nobody really knows what tough work comedy means. It is ashaming that the Academy is sometimes still driven by outdated prejudices. For me, Jim Carrey is the greatest and most versatile actor in the world! And The Truman Show is The greatest performance by an actor I have ever seen on screen. Finished!

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bob the moo from United Kingdom
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Truman Burbank is an ordinary guy in an ordinary little seaside town of Seahaven Island where nothing really happens. Everything is clean, everything is perfect, he knows people but never really connects to anyone. The one woman he ever really loved is not his wife and has long since left for the other side of the world where he longs to visit but feels he can never go. Paralysed by his fear of water since seeing his father die on a boating accident, Truman still feels he is missing something. A strange light falling from the sky, a man who reminds him of his dead father, a strange radio broadcast and the feeling that the world really stops when he shuts his eyes all combine to make him feel something is wrong – but what is it that he seeks but feels he cannot find?

When I first saw this film it was with my girlfriend (who would then become my wife, then ex-wife!) and I remember how she and our friends felt a little bit cheated by the film that they had expected to be yet another wacky Jim Carrey comedy. In fairness to her and the others, it was easy to do this at the time – who would have thought that Jim Carrey would be able to act – certainly not the marketing department that sold this film on the basis of it being a hilarious film as opposed to the thoughtful and rewarding film it turned out to be. The plot can be viewed on so many levels that it is honestly easier to leave it to each viewer to take what they will from it. On the most obvious level it satirises the media, the emotional facade of television and (the increasingly relevant) look at reality shows. To others it will say as much about God, the empty drone of life and the things that we all desire. Of course to others it will just be a comedy with general comments to make – and there is nothing wrong with that whatsoever; in fact the multi-level approach works to make it appeal to many audiences.

Starting as a comedy, I am always taken by how well the film moves to become more and more interesting but yet never loses sight of those audience members who have come for the basic story. Hence it delivers an enjoyable and engaging central narrative that, plainly put, makes for a comic and involving yarn – we grow to care for Truman and this makes the ending an emotional and satisfying one even if some viewers will bemoan the fact that (to them) it appears 'open ended'. That it is also a very thought-provoking affair is only a bonus, with the satire working on many levels. Of course by seeming to tackle so many subjects and issues in such a short running time, the film never really gets its teeth deep into any one of them but this is not a major problem because it leaves us to do that in our heads after the film finishes.

The cast is roundly superb even if the majority of them are in minor roles. Of course it is easy now to look back at Carrey and accept that he can act straight but at the time it seemed so unlikely and few felt it was a good casting choice. Of course, seeing the end result it is clear that he can and he delivers such a great performance that he really makes the film work.

He is comic but yet serious, sympathetic but not worthy of pity – it is a great delivery and one that basically meant that I now look at his Ace Ventura stuff as the 'other' category and see his acting as his real work (6 years ago that was vice versa). Carrey carries the film, being on screen for almost the entire film but he has good support from Linney, Emmerich, Krause and others who play it well despite being stuck in the necessary stiff and unreal roles. The controller etc roles are all well played and feature a collection of well known faces including a great support role from Harris through to roles for Giamatti, Shearer, Baker Hall and a few others. It may be Carrey's show but the support certainly helps.

Overall this is a great film that can be appreciated as much for what it is on the surface (a great little comic story) as it can for the issues that it hints at all the time. There was a time when some viewers may have looked to a Carrey film to be a load of mugging an crude, basic laughs but this was the film that saw that change. Thought provoking, funny, entertaining, short, enjoyable and well acted throughout – well worth seeing and well worth coming back to several times.

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Altaira from Glendale, CA
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I asked a friend to describe The Truman Show. He said, "No, it's not a comedy, well...not exactly." I didn't quite understand until I watched it myself. Truman takes on a tone quite different than any parody/comedies I've seen lately. The point (the media and its destructive powers) is subtlely relayed through dark humor, and you don't feel like the director is smashing you over the head with his morals. Peter Weir demonstrated his artistic genius in Dead Poets Society and here as well. The soundtrack is great, Ed Harris is stellar (what were they THINKING at the Academy?) and for once I actually liked Jim Carrey. His performance wasn't ribald for once. The final scene--I will not reveal it--is a majestic, long-awaited finish to an intellectual movie. Some people will insist that it was boring or pointless. Those are the same viewers who prefer slapstick, obvious humor to the subtle layers presented here. This is a thinking person's movie. If you can't see the underlying message here, of course you won't like it!

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kingoham5
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When I first saw 'The Truman Show' I came out of the theatre amazed. This is your first clue that you are watching something different from your normal Jim Carrey movie. I love the dialogue, camera shot, performances, direction, music, and running time of this movie. There is nothing I would do to change it. I came away from 'The Truman Show' feeling inspired which is the goal of good filmmaking Jim Carrey was outstanding as Truman, underplaying him, not making him too comic or too dramatic, but giving true sincerity when asked. He deserved an Oscar nomination. Ed Harris has always been a good actor, but in this movie he's a great actor. He plays Christof with such arrogance and bullheadedness that you don't know whether he's helping or destroying Truman. He and the director, Peter Weir, deserved their Oscar nods.

Weir, who directed the great 'Witness', uses different camera angles to make you feel like you're actually watching 'The Truman Show' and not a movie. He ends it before you get tired of the concept and helped Carrey and Harris give immaculate performances. Andrew Niccol script is a real star in the movie too because of it's inventiveness and ingenuity. Overall, 'The Truman Show' is what I like to call a true American classic.

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Rosemea D.S. MacPherson from US
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When I was a young adult on the search for my true self, religion and God; I found myself reading all kinds of books such as: Demian, Sidarta, Brave New World, 1984, the works of Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Bolvoir. The world of Truman Burbank certainly took me back to those days. I used to look at myself in the mirror and say out loud: "I wonder if I am me? I wonder if everybody thinks the same shade of red when I say red? Why was I born? Why are my parents my parents? Why did God create the world? Will I get punished by God for thinking all these things?" This is a deep movie, bound to become an art film. Jim Carey did such a superb job that it earned him a Golden Globe Award. This is definitely an Oscar contender. It made me think! What a suprise! Movies do not make me think very often. They are predictable to me now. Could it be age?

When the lady comes on the bike with the basket, then the dog and then the yellow Volkswagen it reminded me of how repetitive life seems at times, when we think that nothing is going to change and we want changes. The Director was like God, the creator, although at times he was a mean guy, I think that all of us have questioned God and have been angry at him. Truman's world seemed so "perfect", no messy hair, no trash. Just phony! Our world seems much like that, everything is a matter of perception.

The audience that watched the Truman Show in the movie was a hedonistic audience of consumers who wanted to be entertained no matter what the cost to Truman, reminded me of the soaps, of the Paparazzi, of how we like to know about the celebrities, and ultimatly of how the product could be the death of someone such as Princess Diana, or Truman Burbank.

Purchase the video and watch it many times and many other symbols will come to mind. Like Jim Carey stated while he received the Golden Globe that he would enjoy it down to the crunchy chewy part.

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James Bond (hmssagent007@hotmail.com) from London, England
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Although it sometimes seems that Hollywood is catering to the lowest common denominator of everything, The Truman Show is proof that there are great ideas that are able to be turned into great movies. Jim Carrey plays an excellent role as a man with whom you can emphasize as well as be entertained by. The film's surrealistic nature is frightening when the viewer realizes the legal feasibility in today's society, and it offers a great message about who or what we assume God to be and how He (he?) would react to our personal drives for discovery to challenge a world we treat as an aquarium. Some things to note and ponder: The way the real-life viewers ignore the real lives of their compatriots and customers while focusing on a false life on screen; whose life is more real and whose is worth living? Also, note that Christof does not have his name listed among the "real world" in the credits, but in "Christof's World." His high-profile media-driven life is no different from Truman's!

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daveisit from Melbourne, Australia
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"The Truman Show" owes a lot to the direction of Peter Weir. Weir refuses to pump out the movies in a search for extra dollars. Instead he chooses wisely and directs brilliantly. Just by looking at a list of his movies will surprise and even amaze you. So as you would imagine "The Truman Show" is another success.

Truman Burbank has the perfect life, or so he thought until finally his life long suspicions about his world begin to unravel. Even though the idea for Truman is not totally original, it is thought provoking enough and allows the audience to wonder, what if? If you think this couldn't happen, just look back over the years at the stupidity of the human race and think again.

Jim Carrey once again nails his role, as do the entire cast. It is rare he fails to perform at a level that perfectly complements the movie and its genre. This is something he does not receive enough credit for. Acting for a comical role or a more dramatic role requires no less effort for the performance to be spot on.

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David H. Schleicher from New Jersey, USA
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It's not often a Hollywood film arrives with such lofty ambitions as this. On one hand this is a high concept comedy in the vein of "Groundhog Day" about an unwitting man whose entire life has been a TV show. This is also a Jim Carrey vehicle designed to display his charms. On the other hand this a very satirical look at the way the media manipulates our reality. The film also wants to take a philosophical look at free will vs. a higher power and reality vs. fantasy. It doesn't always work as the satire often keeps you from thinking too deeply about the underlying themes and the philosophical stuff keeps the satire from biting as well as it could. Credit engaging performances and solid and thoughtful direction from Weir for keeping things afloat and entertaining. There are some great cinematic moments here. I loved the "stolen kiss on the beach at night" and "Cue the sun!"

In the end this film is closer in spirit to psychological dramas and sci-fi movies where a person suddenly realizes they are the pawn in some grand experiment or a prisoner in an alien world than it is to anything in our current "reality TV" obsessed culture. Eventually it touches on a very basic conflict all humans must face (most people do so in childhood, some I fear never do). The universe does not revolve around us. In the closing moments we are excited for Truman because he finally realizes there is a whole new world out there to explore, but also slightly saddened because we know all to well that he will never be able to return to that idyllic "childhood" existence. How's it going to end? Who knows...but things will never be the same.

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Jeremy Phillips (avenger_fan@hotmail.com) from London, UK
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Having been bandied about the release schedules for the best part of a year, Carrey's first semi-dramatic film finally got a UK release last October. He plays Truman Burbank, a vaguely unhappy insurance salesman in the perfect little seaside town of Seahaven. Following some strange occurrences, Truman starts to think that he is being watched. Little does he know that his entire life is secretly filmed, his town is a gigantic sound-stage, everyone he has ever known was an actor and that his every waking and sleeping second is broadcast around the world as a top-rated docu-soap.

Critics have been lavishing enormous praise on this movie since it opened in America last June, and probably rightly so because it is a superbly crafted piece of work. Weir's direction is outstanding, frequently viewing events from the point of view of hidden spy cameras, such as the one in Truman's car radio. One stunning shot has the town's main street full of motionless extras, waiting for Truman to turn the corner. Jim Carrey's performance has been singled out for particular praise, and though his acting is of a much higher standard that his usual comedy antics, it is not exactly Laurence Olivier. This said, an Oscar nomination would have been well deserved.

The setting of a chirpy small town from which escape is impossible echoes cult 60's series The Prisoner, but the balance of reality and poetry is much more restrained here than it was then. The opening credits are especially clever, using those of the actual `show' (e.g. Truman Burbank as Himself). There are, however, a few problems. The film is simply too short to adequately explore Truman's situation, and the character of Meryl, his `wife', disappears about half-an-hour from the end. This kind of slightly sloppy scripting was not something I expected from writer Andrew Niccol, whose previous film Gattaca, which he also directed, was such an immediate classic. Gripes aside, this is an extraordinary and highly original film that really is worth seeing several times to fully understand the director's message. It doesn't even matter if you never liked Jim Carrey before. You will now.

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James Hitchcock from Tunbridge Wells, England
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Life is starting to imitate satire. "The Truman Show" was only made seven years ago, but it predates the current mania for so-called "reality" television shows such as "Big Brother". The idea behind such shows is that they present the viewer with a slice of actual reality- real people in real situations with real emotions- rather than the simulated reality of drama or the edited reality of documentaries. The flaw in this idea is that nothing is more unreal than a reality show. The presence of the cameras has a distorting effect, inducing artificial behaviour patterns in those who appear in front of it, and the sort of people who star in such programmes are almost invariably eccentric exhibitionists. "The Truman Show" takes the central concept of reality TV shows one stage further in order to overcome this flaw: what would happen if we made a reality programme about a person who has absolutely no idea that he is appearing on television? Truman Burbank is an insurance executive, living in a small American seaside town called Seahaven, and happily married to a nurse named Meryl. Or at least he thinks he is. What Truman doesn't know is that he is the central character in a soap opera and that his whole life is a fiction. The company he works for does not exist. Seahaven, the island it stands on and the surrounding ocean are all part of a gigantic set, specially created for the programme and sealed off from the outside world in a gigantic geodesic dome. Everyone in Truman's life- Meryl, his mother, his colleagues at work, his best friend Marlon- are actors playing out their roles in his drama.

For thirty years Truman has accepted his world unquestioningly, but at the beginning of the film a series of incidents- a light falling from the sky, the reappearance of his father, who was supposed to have drowned in a boating accident when Truman was a boy, strange messages picked up on his car radio- awaken his doubts. Although members of the cast make strenuous attempts to dissuade him, he decides to try and explore the world outside Seahaven; in particular he wants to travel to Fiji where he has been told that his former girlfriend Sylvia now lives. (Sylvia was written out of the show when the scriptwriters decided that he should marry Meryl instead).

The film has certain similarities with another film from the late nineties, "Pleasantville", which dealt with an inverted version of the same idea; two teenagers from the real world are magically transported into the world of a fifties television show. In my view, however, "The Truman Show" is the better of the two. "Pleasantville" deals with its political themes in a heavy-handed way with some very obvious symbolism. "The Truman Show", although it deals with some weighty issues, is never ponderous or excessively serious; indeed, it is often very humorous. The main source of humour is the contrast between the naive, trusting Truman and the behaviour of those around him, all living a lie and desperately trying to prevent Truman from finding out that it is a lie. I had previously thought of Jim Carrey as a rather annoying actor whose appeal was based upon the idea that manic overacting is in itself funny, but here as Truman he is very good indeed, both amusing and touching. I was also impressed by Ed Harris as Christof, the show's enigmatic producer.

Another factor in the success of the film is its visual look. Seahaven (like the town in "Pleasantville") appears as an eerily perfect, not-quite-real version of the typical American small town, but was actually filmed in a real place, the purpose-built village of Seaside, Florida. There are similarities with the cult British sixties television series "The Prisoner", which was also filmed in an eerily perfect seaside village, Portmeirion in North Wales.

The film is obviously a satire on the intrusiveness and obsession with celebrity of the modern media; added relevance was given by the fact that it came out shortly after the death of Princess Diana. There is, however, more to it than that. Much has been made of the film as religious allegory; it has been pointed out that Christof whose name is clearly, and quite deliberately, similar to "Christ", is a God-figure, whereas Truman (the "True Man") is a symbolic Everyman. It has even been claimed that the film is an anti-religious allegory, with Truman's final escape from Seahaven symbolic of man's need to break away from outdated religious dogmas. This is not an interpretation with which I would agree- if one is trying to put across a "God is dead" message, it seems odd to provide a God-figure who is very much real, not mythical or illusory. The imagery of the final scenes – the calm after the storm, the ascent up a flight of stairs into the sky and clouds- also struck me as religious rather than secular. Moreover, the film seems too complex to be reduced to any single allegorical meaning, although it certainly deals with the relationship between man and God. It also touches on man's need to explore- both to explore new places and also to explore new ideas and to break away from established ways of life and ways of thought- and on the nature of reality. Truman's world may seem unreal to us, but as Christof says, "we accept the reality we are presented with".

This is a brilliant, multi-layered film, part comedy, part satire, part philosophical speculation, and in my view one of the two best movies of the late nineties. (The other was "American Beauty"). I felt it should have taken the "Best Picture" Oscar for 1999- "Shakespeare in Love" is a good film, but "The Truman Show" is a great one. It confirms my view that Peter Weir is one of the best directors currently working. 10//10

hidden camera|simulated reality|controlled environment|innocence lost|fictional reality show|creator creation relationship|fictional tv show|island|alternate reality|box office hit|playing against type|dystopia|shakespearean|three word title|1990s|mental torture|hermetic world|man with glasses|future|flashback|fictional talk show|bathtub|snorricam|talk show in plot|cult film|boat accident|no opening credits|insurance agent|spatial loop|wall of fire|voyeurism|video surveillance|vending machine|twins|travel agency|traffic jam|television producer|suspicion|surgery|supermarket|storm at sea|searchlight|search party|school|sailboat|rainstorm|radio broadcast|paranoia|object falling from the sky|nurse|nuclear accident|newsstand|moon|mirror|marriage|marketing|marital separation|loss of father|library|lawn mower|infiltration|improvisation|hospital|golf|god complex|friendship|florida|filmmaking|elevator|drowning|deja vu|deceit|college|collage|christmas|bus|bicycle|bathroom|basement|bar|artifice|acting|satire|bridge|blockbuster|revolving door|ego|small town|morality|product placement|media hype|escape|fear of water|father son relationship|adoption|beach|television|weather manipulation|betrayal|bravery|hollywood sign|mother son relationship|simple man|identity|finger crossing|title spoken by character|character name in title|film in film|dancing|sadness|

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Certifications:
Argentina:13 / Australia:PG / Belgium:KT / Brazil:12 / Brazil:Livre (DVD rating) / Denmark:11 / Finland:K-12/9 / France:Tous publics / Germany:12 (bw) / Hong Kong:I / Iceland:L / Ireland:PG / Mexico:A / Netherlands:12 (original rating) / Netherlands:6 (re-rating) / Norway:11 / Peru:Apt / Philippines:PG-13 / Portugal:M/12 / Singapore:PG / South Korea:12 / Spain:T / Sweden:11 / Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) / Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) / UK:PG / USA:PG (certificate #34959)