The Truman Show
Truman Burbank lives a quaint life in his small picturesque town of Seahaven. Despite being married to the extroverted Meryl, and having a lifelong friend like Marlon, his internal existence is that of solitude.
One day, certain things start occurring around his hometown that lead Truman to believe that the perfect existence around him is fictional – and that he is living in a world where everyone is watching.
The thing is… he is correct, and he is the star of the biggest television show in history – and he’s about to discover the truth.
Direction
Near perfect direction from Peter Weir, who creates the world that everyone at one stage or another has perceived themselves to be part of.
With flawless performances, and simply brilliant camera work, this is a wonderful experience of film-making.
Cast/Characters
Jim Carrey plays Truman, in his first true dramatic role. He simply excels at this performance, while still getting to show his comedic chops. One such moment is when, he believes his life is a farce – he ‘kidnaps’ his wife in the car. Some great dialogue (yes I can) and some zany Carrey antics (his Mardi Gras scream)
Laura Linney plays “Meryl” Truman’s wife (or Hanna Gill the actress). Linney has time and time again shown her versatility at dramatic roles, and here is no exception.
Ed Harris plays Christof, the creator of The Truman Show. We aren’t truly introduced to him until the 1hr mark. Despite his importance to the plot, he has surprisingly little screen-time. He is a ‘God’ like figure, who lives in the sky – who “created” this world.
Natasha McElhone plays Lauren/Sylvia, who is important to Truman’s past – and potential future. She is seen in equal parts flashbacks, but also in the present day as she is one of the few who want to free Truman from his ‘captivity’.
Noah Emmerich plays Marlon (or the actor Louis Coltrane), Truman’s best friend. I’ve enjoyed Emmerich’s work (like in my previously reviewed ‘Beautiful Girls’) and feel he has always been solid in anything he’s been part of.
Holland Taylor plays Truman’s mother.
Breakdown
From the opening of the film, we the audience are made aware of the ruse made for Truman, that he is the ‘star’ of a world wide television phenomenon.
I loved the non linear (of sorts) narrative, where we shown quite a few ‘flashbacks’ of Truman’s past. These most resolve around his ‘lost love’ Sylvia, an character who was meant to be a background extra.
However the actress Lauren really fell for Truman and tried to tell him the truth before being ejected. Truman, despite his marriage to Meryl, still harbors feelings for her, and these are shown to ‘us’ the audience, as well as ‘the movie audience’ through these clever flashbacks. Just brilliant screenplay.
Truman begins to suspect all is not as it seems, when the world around him starts to show signs of fallacy – like when the light falls from the sky, he sees a break room behind an elevator, rain seems to malfunction above him and he can hear his location being discussed on the radio.
Even simple conversations with his wife, where she is seemingly “advertising” products around their home (knives, lawnmowers, coffee) are done to perfection as these are exactly how those advertisements are done, and Truman’s bewilderment about why she is talking that way to just him. Even Marvin’s beer chats are “adverts”
Once Truman does figure out the truth, this becomes the catalyst for Christof, who only cares about ratings – to happily willing to kill Truman on screen, and abandoning the false world he created (turning night into day at the blink of an eye, and using the moon as a spotlight in the sky).
One little nitpick I had was that Truman’s beginning to suspect, to eventual escape to the real world is only a handful of days. I wished they extended this to have ‘flashbacks’ where he has been suspecting for months – if not years. Also, if he lived in a ‘false world’ why did they tell him so much of the “real” world? But again, just small nitpicks.
Truman’s eventual departure from the fictional world, and his declining of Christof’s promise of “false illusion” – thereby taking control over his own life for the first time is one of the greatest movie endings of all time. But what is to become of the most famous person of all time is never shown.
The final words spoken in the film are one of the most classic lines delivered early in the film, and throughout (and became famous in pop culture in the very late 1990s… “In case I don’t see ya. Good afternoon, good evening and goodnight.”
I loved the score by Burkhard Dallwitz. Several moments come to mind especially in the back end (boat weather attack andthen discovering the wall/Truman’s breakdown.
It is also cleverly added into “the show” when we physically see a pianist at times in Christof’s studio playing (which in turn is playing in on screen Truman Show).
Overall
Brilliant concept, with stellar performances – especially Carrey in still one of his best film roles.
The top tier direction from Wier, who uses cameras effectively as if we were watching this television show at home with the audiences we see on screen.
A very strong recommend.
4.5/5
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