Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32255 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-04-17
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 99 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The whole world is watching--literally--every time Truman Burbank makes the slightest move. Unbeknownst to him, in this hauntingly funny film by Peter Weir, his entire life has been an unending soap opera for consumption by the rest of the world. And everyone he knows--including his mother, his wife and his bestfriend--is really an actor, paid to be part of his life. In this intriguing and surprisingly touching 1998 film, writer Andrew Niccol imagines an ultimate kind of celebrity, then sees it brought to life with comic intensity and emotional honesty by Jim Carrey in what maybe the performance of his career. Carrey has exceptional support from Laura Linney and Ed Harris but it's his show, in a portrayal that demonstrates just what kind of range Carrey is capable of. --MarshallFine

Amazon.co.uk Review
The whole world is watching--literally--every time Truman Burbank makes the slightest move. Unbeknownst to him, in this hauntingly funny film by Peter Weir, his entire life has been an unending soap opera for consumption by the rest of the world. And everyone he knows--including his mother, his wife, and his best friend--is really an actor, paid to be part of his life. In this intriguing and surprisingly touching 1998 film, writer Andrew Niccol (screenwriter for Gattaca) imagines an ultimate kind of celebrity, then sees it brought to life with comic intensity and emotional honesty by Jim Carrey in what may be the performance of his career. Carrey has exceptional support from Laura Linney and Ed Harris, but it's his show, in a portrayal that demonstrates just what kind of range Carrey is capable of. -- Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
English
Region 2

Customer Reviews

You think *you're* paranoid??
The Truman Show, a movie about a ratings busting TV show all about one guy, Truman Burbank. Truman doesn't know he's the star, in fact Truman doesn't know he's on TV at all. You see, Truman lives in an artificial environment, a town and environs created inside a gigantic dome with engineered weather. It is the mother of all movie sets. Throughout the course of his life the Show's producer has guided and adapted his environment into the ultimate in reality TV.

But Truman has his suspicions.

I won't go any further into the plot as you really need to see this movie to appreciate the scale of the story. The movie is one of those poignantly funny films that makes you think about the nature of life and reality (well I did) and leads you to wonder, am I on TV? The paranoids amongst us will say "I knew it!".

I really enjoyed this film and the performances were excellent with Jim Carrey as Truman and the marvellous Ed Harris as the reclusive Christof, the TV producer. Jim Carrey gurns and mugs with the best of them, but I would seriously rate him as an actor now rather than a clown.

A great movie with much to think about. Five stars from me.

Exciting film, where you also have to think....
The "Truman Show" directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol is a film about the life of a man called Truman Burbank. Unbeknown to himself he was adopted by a film company, when he was a baby and since then he has been the star of his own reality TV show which is broadcasted all over the world. The only purpose of his life is to entertain television viewers worldwide. All the people around him are actors, even his so-called parents, his wife and his best friend Marlon, who are acting from a script written by the creator and producer Christof (played by Ed Harris). He lives in Seahaven, a specially constructed film studio which is like a world within the world. Seahaven is situated on an island, which Truman has never left, because he is afraid of water. His life is very ordinary - he is married to a woman called Meryl, he has got a nice small house and an office job - but nevertheless millions of people all over the world watch him every day. Christof is able to manipulate Truman's behaviour as he can easily change the weather, decide which person should talk to Truman and what about - he can decide everything in Truman's life. However, after two decades Truman starts to be suspicious as technical breakdowns become more frequent (a spotlight falls down from the sky when he's on his way to work and his car radio starts to transmit the producer's instructions). In addition to this, Truman has seen his father again, who is supposed to be dead and he starts to think about events in the past, in particular about the time when he met Sylvia - his real love. Through various flashback scenes, we gain an insight into Truman's past, and events which shape his personality and ambitions. The rest of the film consists of his gradual realisation that all is not as it seems. All this leads to a fascinating turning-point and ends through a combination of desperation and joy.

This film certainly has many aspects that one has to think about; on the one hand it shows the enormous power of today's media (just think of all the reality-shows on TV) and on the other hand it shows that a person has to accept the reality he or she lives in. It provokes thoughts in the viewer, about whether our world may not be real, and that there could be an external force controlling all our actions and watching what we do on a reality TV show.

A truly memorable and moving film
"The Truman Show" is a great film about a man brought up in an artificial world created specifically for a TV audience. Everyone around him is an extra or a character on the set, including his wife and his best friend. The story has echoes of the tale of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, created by a vengeful God. Ok, it might be stretching a metaphor too far, but Truman is initially given the truth about his state by a disgruntled female extra whom he subsequently falls in love with. The process of disillusionment is gradual. The final denoument is brilliant, with Truman asking a disembodied voice the penultimate and ultimate questions of life," Who are you?" "I am the Creator...of a TV show" answers Christof (Ed Harris at his best); "Then, who am I?" "You are the Star". Given the choice between the uncertainty of the outside and the security of his controlled environment, Truman chooses life as a human being. The film also manages to encapsulate the dilemma faced by parents and their growing children, particularly in strongly hierarchical families. This one should have won Oscars.