THE TRUMAN SHOW (Paramount - 1998) Starring Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Natascha McElhone Screenplay by Andrew Niccol Produced by Scott Rudin, Andrew Niccol, Edward S. Feldman, Adam Schroeder Directed by Peter Weir Running time: 102 minutes
**** (out of four stars)
Alternate Rating: A
Note: Some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers. Be forewarned.
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"All the world's a stage
And all the men and women merely players
They have their exits and their entrances
And one man in his time plays many parts"
- excerpt from As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7
When William Shakespeare penned this passage, he could not have possibly envisioned a world in which the domestic activites in an abode would be broadcast across the continent, or where women would install webcams in their apartments in order to convert voyeurism into cash. This is the world of today, and it is the perfect climate to unveil a prototypical high-concept project like THE TRUMAN SHOW.
Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) seems to have the perfect life. He has a pretty, doting wife Meryl (Laura Linney), a comfortable insurance sales position, an immaculate suburban home in the idyllic island community of Seahaven, a reliable childhood buddy Marlon (Noah Emmerich) -- except for the dog that paws a greeting to him every morning and his hydrophobia, this is paradise.
Or so it would seem. Bizarre, inexplicable incidents begin to crop up in Truman's life. A lighting fixture unexpectedly plummets from the sky. A rainstorm which gives new meaning to the term 'isolated' follows him around. A radio broadcast appears to be describing his every move. For the first time in his life, it is beginning to dawn on Truman that things are not what they appear to be.
THE TRUMAN SHOW, directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol, is a remarkably well-constructed film, paced perfectly with every scene fluidly leading into the next. Balancing drama with humour, thoughtfulness with abandon, this is a film which addresses an intriguing and intricate concept with just the right mixture of sermonizing and whimsical fancy. In many ways, Mr. Niccol's screenplay mirrors the spirit of his previous GATTACA -- both films focus on the theme of triumph of the human spirit over oppressive adversity, with pivotal, character-defining moments occurring at sea.
Although the film's rather conventional climax doesn't sustain the inspired dynamic achieved in the first two-thirds, and ultimately just falls short on delivering the intended emotional punch, there are moments through THE TRUMAN SHOW which are genuinely stirring and moving as Truman attempts to make sense of his unraveling world and grasp the implications behind his discoveries of deception.
Despite the multitude of pertinent issues being broached by the film, it remains foremost a finely-crafted piece of entertainment, constantly light and accessible. The tone achieved is far too sunny for any sense of fearful paranoia to legitimately intrude, and as the carefully-stacked Seahaven house of cards tumbles down, the film eschews any psychological ramifications for a man discovering that the fundamentals of his entire existence have been false. The end act of THE TRUMAN SHOW essentially boils down to a rehash of the reliable, crowdpleasing Underdog Vs. The System formula.
While the film is an impressive realisation of an inspired concept, some elements are lacking. The device of mysterious Lauren/Sylvia (Natascha McElhone) as a contributing impetus to Truman's growing awareness isn't exactly convincing. There's not much of a discernable spark between either the two characters or the actors themselves, and the scenes in which she indignantly confronts the megalomaniac Christoff (Ed Harris) with regards to the moral ambiguity of his actions unnecessarily spells things out for the audience, thankfully avoided elsewhere in the film.
In fact, although the film smartly restricts the number of scenes depicting the real world outside Truman's artificial utopia to a mere handful of select reaction shots from enraptured gazers, it might have perhaps been even more indicting and damning to immerse itself even *more* deeply in the insulatory Seahaven world, with the resultant effect that the repercussions felt as the film finally shifts outside the imposed bubble are all the more startling. Still, the scathing commentary issued by this film is on target, and its insidiously oblique manner of delivery is far more effective in conveying the message than the more forthright anti-voyeuristic tirades such as that of the recent Costa Gavras film MAD CITY.
I've always believed that the versatile Ms. Linney possesses a tremendous comic gift -- she has always seems to have a impish gleam in her eyes -- and in THE TRUMAN SHOW she runs rampant with her duplicitous character, mischievously flashing a glazed, insanely jovial grin as she perkily recites impromptu product placement slogans. Cheerfully going over the top, it's hilarious to watch her -- who would have ever guessed that she'd have the opportunity to outshine the reigning King Of Comedy in the laughs department of a film? Ms. Linney is a delight in the film.
But it is Mr. Carrey who rules the show here. He may not have been intuitively the most obvious choice to portray underdog hero Truman Burbank -- the role is seriously lacking in any of the frenetic comic interludes which typify his traditional parts -- but he brings to the character tremendous energy and eminent appeal: it's difficult not to root for Truman. In a commanding performance, Mr. Carrey lends our protagonist an inherent sense of decency and integrity which makes him a genuinely engaging presence, and acquits himself impressively in this dramatic turn, demonstrating admirable restraint -- there's an early scene where he's down on his knees gardening, and given his past track record, one almost instinctively anticipates Mr. Carrey to pull one of more infamous, and in this case, wholly inappropriate sight gags. It's almost poetic how this notorious look-at-me actor successfully tones it down to play a character who's constantly the centre of attention.
In addition to the fine performances by the bulk of the cast -- Mr. Emmerich is particularly noteworthy for issuing his character a sense of sturdy trustworthiness -- the film is immeasurably aided by wonderful production design by Dennis Gassner in creating Truman's antiseptic, white picket-fenced smalltown utopia, and by Burkhard Dallwitz's original score. Technical credits are first-rate all around.
While THE TRUMAN SHOW is clearly a definitive high-concept film, it's not exactly a dazzlingly innovative one -- obvious predecessors utilising common elements abound, ranging from 1965's SECRET AGENT through to the groundbreaking British 1967 TV series THE PRISONER. All the same, this is a visionary, award-calibre film: entertaining, provocative, and intelligent.
The curious (and possibly disturbing) thing may be that although upon first glance the plausibility of the film's concept seems unfathomably outrageous, it's abundantly clear that our society is rapidly approaching, if not actualisation, at least permissiveness of such a scenario. Perhaps the highest compliment which can be paid to Mr. Weir is that his depiction of this bizarro state is so convincing that we accept it without question. Perhaps we recognize a bit of ourselves in this world.
- Alex Fung
email: aw220@freenet.carleton.ca
web : http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/
-- Alex Fung (aw220@freenet.carleton.ca) | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/ "Unlike you, I'm tolerant of weirdness." - Jennifer Jason Leigh, CROOKED HEARTS
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