The Truman Show(1998)

Oscar Nominee: Best Director ; Best Supporting Actor (Ed Harris) ; Best Original Screenplay.

POOPER: Thanks Curt, aka THE GRAND POOP-BAH
Truman’s (Jim Carrey’s) suspicions become so overwhelming that he overcomes his fear of the sea. He reaches the border of his staged world via a boat and exits through a door in the wall.

LONGER VERSION:
The bulk of the events seen throughout the film -which we know, from the get-go, is a reality show depicting the life of an average joe named Truman Burbank, something he has been largely unaware of- take place during the 30th. year of the show -also Truman’s age-. By this point, a series of strange, unexpected coincidences start happening around Truman, which make him wary of the nature of his surroundings; such as: rain falling solely on him; the radio inexplicably appearing to follow him as he drove to work; a gigantic set light falling from the sky -excused off as “a plane that shed parts before crashing”-; and his supposedly dead “father” surreptitiously popping up in front of him. For the most part, he is deterred from questioning, or reassured, by either his “wife” Meryl (Laura Linney) or his “best friend” Marlon (Noah Emmerich), so he won’t be able to dig deeper. Yet, he still longs for that “girl who was taken to go live in Fiji”, Lauren/Sylvia (Natasha McElhone), the only person who cared for him for whom he really was and tried to warn him, only to be unceremoniously removed from the show for it.

Things reach a critical point when, one day, after waiting for Meryl to come back from her work as a nurse, having openly expressed his intention to leave Seahaven to see the world -with previous attempts inexplicably “thwarted”-, he overcomes a manipulated traffic jam and his instilled fear of water by forcing Meryl to take the wheel of their car while he closed his eyes to cross the bridge at the edge of the city. Further ahead, a supposed nuclear plant failure causes a detour that would lead back to Seahaven; but, when a cop Truman doesn’t know accidentally addresses him as TRUMAN, he tries to run away, only to be captured, subdued and brought back to his house, with a visibly stressed Meryl struggling to keep her bubbly façade.

Truman, having previously seen, with further detail, pictures of his “marriage” to Meryl and discovered she actually hated him, confronts her and challenges her on it. She tries to change the subject, which upsets him and makes him hold her at knifepoint, causing her to snap and break out of character to call for help. Marlon arrives with beer and Meryl, having had a meltdown, begs to be released from the show. Shortly after, Truman -who is increasingly convinced of a conspiracy going on around him- and Marlon are seen chatting by the unfinished road where they would normally play golf. Marlon appears to be, once again, reassuring Truman. It is then revealed that Christof (Ed Harris), the creator, mastermind and around-the-clock Director of the show, is feeding Marlon the lines he is expected to say. Additionally, as a ploy to prevent the show from faltering and to keep Truman under control, Kirk (Brian Delate), Truman’s father, is formally brought back, “having previously suffered amnesia” from the boating accident in which he was presumed killed, and Truman tearfully reunites with him.

The ruse seems to work, the show seems stronger than ever in ratings and popularity -despite a spiteful Sylvia calling Christof to berate him for his lies and manipulations that have turned Truman into a media instrument- and Truman appears to be back to normal, now separated from Meryl. One night, however, he doesn’t seem to wake up from an extended nap in the basement, which raises Christof’s suspicions and, by following on a series of clues and having Marlon assist in searching, he realizes Truman has managed to escape from everyone’s watch. Because of this, he is forced to suspend the show’s uninterrupted broadcasting for the first time in years, which causes a worldwide uproar.

After a thorough citywide search that included altering the established night-day cycle, Truman is seen sailing away from Seahaven. Christof restarts the show transmission and orders his Control Room Director (Paul Giamatti) to manipulate the weather program and drop a massive storm with tidal waves on Truman, so it capsizes his boat and scares him back to shore. This is witnessed by Christof’s network superior (Philip Baker Hall) who angrily orders him to stop. Despite getting tossed off the boat and almost drowning, the whole world watching in pins and needles, Truman resists and Christof has no choice but to call it off and let him be. The boat continues sailing until it literally reaches the far end of the studio dome and pierces through the wall.

A shocked and anguished Truman, now coming to terms with the fact that he was some sort of prisoner, gets off the boat and walks towards what appears to be a staircase with an exit door. As he pops the door open, Christof speaks to him directly, in a God-like way, explains the reality of Truman and the nature of the show, and tries to goad him into staying under the premise of “being safe in this world created specially for him” and “there being no more truth out in the real world than there is in Seahaven”. A worldwide audience, including Sylvia, eagerly awaits for the outcome. When Christof demands a reaction from Truman, he uses his well-known catchphrase “In case I don’t see ya,… good afternoon, good evening and good night!!”, takes a bow and exits, with everyone, everywhere, erupting in cheers and applause, and Sylvia running to meet him.

Flabbergasted and out of words, Christof just collapses on the screen he was using to watch Truman, while the network execs order to cease transmission, thus bringing the show to an end and compelling audiences to look for something else to watch.