The Truman show

Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) is the star of a television experiment: he does not know that since birth his life has been the centre of a television show called The Truman Show. The world he lives in is one giant TV set and his family, his marriage and his work are all shams. Gradually, however, Truman comes to suspect that there is something not quite right with his life. As Truman attempts to discover the truth behind the banality of his existence, his attempts are frustrated by the control and power of the man (Ed Harris) who has created “his” life; and by the expectations of a TV audience who have themselves grown up on The Truman Show. From this fantastical premise, Peter Weir has created a moving fable about our obsession with media and the destructive potential of such obsession. Truman exists in a world where reality is meaningless but the film posits that the audiences who watch his life unfold on television are themselves blind to the distinction between media and the real. Weir has crafted a morality tale which utilises the best of contemporary studio craft to present a tale with the simple force and grace of a modern fairy tale.