Ever since I had first heard of the Truman Show, I knew that this was a film I wanted to watch. Then when I finally saw a trailer that I downloaded of the internet, my expectations rose again, it was a film I just had to see. I have only seen the film about six times but I feel I know the film like the back of my hand.
The Characters:
Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank - Laura Linney as Meryl - Noah Emmerich as Marlon - Natascha McElhone as Lauren/Sylvia - Ed Harris as Christof - Brian Delate as Kirk - Paul Giamatti as Simeon - Harry Shearer as Interviewer and directed by Peter Weir.
The Plot:
Truman Burbank is your average citizen, who lives in a small town of Seahaven. The town is situated on an island and Truman has never ventured off the island due to his fear of water. We find out this came about when he went sailing with his father, the sea became rough and Truman’s father fell into the water and drowned. Truman lives in one of the suburbs of Seahaven with his wife Meryl, she is a nurse who works at the local hospital, Truman works at an insurance firm, he spends his free time hanging out with his good buddy Marlon. But theres one thing that Truman doesn’t know that everyone else does... Its all television. Truman is the only person living a real life. Everybody else are actors all working inside the largest dome/movie theatre ever created. The dome houses the town of Seahaven and it is so big that it is visible from space. In the town are 5000 hidden cameras that allow the viewers of the show to watch Trumans every move.
’’The Truman Show’’ is the most popular show on television. Everyone watches the show and follows the life of Truman but things aren’t going too well. At one point we get to see Trumans past. He is a student at Seahavem college and is going to play in the college band at a football match. He sees an attractive girl but before he can approach her, a young Meryl bumps into Truman and is flirting with him. To us the viewer it is obvious that Meryl is the organised love interest for him. Truman doesn’t really care and when he tries to look for the attractive girl again she is gone. Later at the college dance, Truman is with Meryl and he sees the attractive girl again. But before he can do anything the girl is escorted away by several men.
Later Truman meets the girl and she takes him to the beach were she thinks no-one will see them. She tries to explain that everything is a lie all created just for Truman. Before she can say anything else, the girls father turns up and takes her away. Truman never sees her again. We discover that she was sacked from the show because of what she did. Back in the present day Truman leaves for work and before he gets into his car, a stage light falls from the sky and nearly hits Truman. Of course he is shocked, and when he looks up all he can see is sky. Later that day before he goes into work, he spots his father. He tries to reach him but his father is whisked away onto a bus and driven off.
Truman finds it weird that no-one else seems to care that the old man was grabbed off the street. Behind this charade is Christof. He runs the entire show from a control room which is situated behind the moon. He has been running the show for years. When he discovers that the actor who played Trumans father broke back into the dome he had him whisked off and then brought him back into the show properly to reunite him with Truman. He uses this to his advantage and that moment of the show receives its highest rating ever by the public viewers. Several other events occur which lead Truman to believe that something is going on. These include his car radio recieving studio instructions which are being given to the actors and a moment when he runs into a building hes never been before and he runs over to the lift. When the doors open he can see the back of the set where some actors are eating lunch.
The final straw is when he is looking at pictures of his wedding and spots that in one picture of Truman and Meryl kissing, she has her fingers crossed. From this point on, Truman acts very paranoid and tries to discover what is really going on. Will he discover the truth or will Christof manage to cover up the blunders which are being made?
The Acting: The acting in this film is very good because Jim Carrey has proved that he is capable of other styles of work apart from just comedy. Everyone else is also of a high quality. Laura Linney plays a brilliant Meryl who we can see doesn’t really love Truman. Shes just an actor whose doing her job. Ed Harris is also good in his role of Christof. He doesn’t get as much screen time as the others but we can see this is a man who loves his job but he is a very tired man because of the demands that are placed on him.
This is a brilliant film which doesn’t necesarily need to be seen at the cinema like most other films do, I watched at the cinema but I also have it on VHS and it is just as good in my bedroom. I really like the film because you can really picture yourself being Truman and how he feels, it is also very effective the way that you feel his emotions when he gets upset or when he’s happy. All I can say is just see this film anyway because it is a great story and probably one of Jims best performances yet, even though all of his other films are great.