The Truman Show (1998) movie by screenwriter Andrew Niccol became a psychological comedy after producer Scott Rudin acquired the script. Originally planned as a science fiction thriller with the potential for Brian De Palma directing, Peter Weir directed the well-performing movie about a fictional television show starring the fictional Truman Burbank.
Truman Burbank, portrayed by Jim Carrey, was adopted and raised by the fictional television show that introduced him to us at his birth. A fictional city named Seahaven Island was built for him and the show under an enormous dome that was, in the world of the movie, visible from space. Within the movie, Christof, the show’s creator and primary decision maker for what happens in a heavily fictionalized world, is in charge of the major day-to-day life of the world around Truman. Ed Harris portrayed Christof.
Part of the notion of the show informing what we see was the desire to keep the fictional show going for as long as possible. The storylines introduced to make this happen, as run in the movie by Christof, takes the further step of keeping internal continuity for Truman with his work, his friends and his family. Much of the humor for the backstory existed in this space, in addition to the portrayal of Truman himself by Carrey.
The notion of family, friendships and work were central to the day-to-day that were the point of The Truman Show. Noah Emmerich, for example, portrayed the actor Louis Coltrane playing Truman’s close friend Marlon. The actress Hannah Gill, playing Truman’s wife, Meryl Burbank, was portrayed by Laura Linney. When the sensibility of Truman Burbank as an adult kicked in, the two storylines combined in some humorous and marginally scary ways included the aid of Truman’s television show mother, portrayed by Holland Taylor.
Besides the fact that the curiosity of the character of Truman was tethered to a healthy dose of reality that was possibly late blooming, the fact that the movie The Truman Show inserted calls to the human character of a real person (ostensibly Truman) were crucial. To engage The Truman Show with the somewhat suspended sense believability needed, offered the familial appeal for the movie that allowed the movie both critical and audience appreciation as confirmed here. Bringing this home were the roles of actress Sylvia playing Sylvia, as portrayed by Natascha McElhone, and Walter Moore, playing Truman’s father Kirk Burbank, portrayed by Brian Delate.
The Truman Show movie and television show of the same name within the movie were both aware of themselves and their tenuous hold of reality to suggest the psychological question “How does it end?” This question, in a sense, moves beyond the imagined television audience and Truman Burbank, or even us and Truman Burbank, into a question about Truman Burbank and show creator Christof. How will their relationship end, or in this case begin in a mutually aware way? That the story moves beyond into this direction with an overcoming of fear as the central metaphor / stand-in for Truman and Christof is, in the end, where I find the movie works best. My grade for The Truman Show as directed by Peter Weir is 4-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Matt – Saturday, April 16, 2022
Matt Lynn Digital 