Writer - Andrew Niccol
Cast:
Jim Carrey - Truman Burbank
Laura Linney - Meryl Burbank/Hannah Gill
Noah Emmerich - Marlon
Natascha McElhone - Lauren/Sylvia
Ed Harris - Christof
Trivia:
In an early scene, a bottle of Vitamin D is on Truman and Meryl's kitchen table, needed for those without exposure to the (real) sun.
The events in the movie take place over a four to five day time span, Day 10,909 to Day 10,913 of the show, as shown by the ticker over the TV in the Truman Bar. Truman would have been six to seven weeks from his 30th birthday.
Based on and filmed in Seaside, Florida.
Psalm 139
- imdb.com
Plot Analysis:
The Truman Show is a movie about surveillance on one man's life with him unknowingly a star of his own TV show. He slowly realizes things out of the ordinary and pieces together he is part of some grand event. He deals with the loss of his father, settling and marrying a woman he truly doesn't love, having a phony best friend, and being trapped in an artificial city he can't escape. There are also themes of consumerism in the movie used to comfort Truman.
The movie starts out with Christof saying nothing is fake about Truman. Cast members Meryl and Marlon give their positive experiences n being on The Truman Show. Marlon says nothing is fake it's merely controlled. It starts on Day 10,909. A light falls from the set that says Sirius (9 Canis Majoris). Sirius is the brightest star in the sky and represents Satan. Maybe Satan is trying to wake him up from his false reality. Truman finds it odd but he isn't at healthy paranoia yet. At work he is interested in two things - going to Fiji and Lauren Garland. To add drama to the show they say he has a prospect on Harbor Island because he is afraid of the water because of his father's "death."
When the awful Meryl is introduced she is like an infomercial actress telling him of a knife she got free at the checkout. His "friend" Marlon and he hit golf balls and Truman says he wants to go to Fiji. He says, "You can't get any further away before you start coming back." Marlon thought it was in Florida. He tells Meryl he wants to bum around the world for a year traveling. She says why don't they try for a baby. Truman says that can wait like any healthy minded man maybe he doesn't want one. His paranoia increases when he sees his "dad" and recognizes him. His "dad" is forced on a bus and driven away. Truman looks at pictures of his father and in a little box you can see some herbs possibly marijuana. He pulls out some clothes that belonged to Lauren. At a flashback memory Truman is at a dance party and he notices Lauren's bracelet beads which probably have some significance because of the closeup on them. Lauren and Truman are attracted to one another. Mark Shea from mark-shea.com thinks the beads she wears are an allusion to the Virgin Mary and the Rosary. Some security guards make Lauren leave.
In the library, studying for exams, Truman notices a hand with beads sitting in front of him. It is Lauren's. They introduce themselves. She says she is not allowed to talk to him. Maybe she is the Devil as she is always wearing red and she is trying to break him out of the garden of eden and into the real world. Lauren wears a pin that says, "How's it going to end?" The The hidden cameras follow them everywhere. Lauren tells him her real name is Sylvia. She tells him,"Everybody knows about you, everybody knows everything you do." Her "father" comes to get her by car on the beach and tells Truman she has Schizophrenia. The "father" tells Truman they're going to Fiji. That is why Truman has a fascination with Fiji later in the film.An alternative view of Meryl and Lauren is that Lauren is the pure Madonna and Meryl is the whore as she is married to Truman and has sex with him basically for a salary as an actress.
Truman develops a healthy paranoia when he hears over the car radio people following his movements. At Omnicom he notices an elevator with an entrance to a stage set which shows Truman Lauren was right - that something is going on. Looking at family photos with two people he doesn't like - his mother and his wife Meryl. He rolls his eyes when his mother suggests Meryl and him should have kids. Like any rational man he believes children are a burden. Truman follows Meryl to work to find out she doesn't know anything about surgery. He spontaneously wants to go to New Orleans. He tries to leave Seaside, Florida but there are fire warnings and a nuclear power plant leak that is fake but orchestrated to make Truman go back home.Meryl suggests Truman to get some psychiatric help and tells him he is not well. Sounds like a bitch I personally know. He tells her she can't stand him and she says that's not true. Then the awful Meryl tries to offer him some Mococoa at the same time advertising to the people watching the The Truman Show. Of course he loses it and before a real fight breaks loose Marlon comes with beer for Truman. Christof feeds the lines to him in a secret earpiece Marlon wears. He also orchestrates to music and is the director of the show choosing camera angles on Truman. Lauren/Sylvia watches and there is a red blanket behind her as she is always wearing or around something red.
An interviewer asks Christof, "Why do you think that Truman has never come close to discovering the true nature of his world until now?" Christof tells him, "We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented." A new romantic interest is introduced and her name is Vivien. She wears red like Lauren. Maybe there is some symbolism the devil takes the form of a woman or maybe it is coincidence. Truman escapes the cameras by blocking out the cameras he must suspect are there.
Works Cited
imdb.com
mark-shea.com
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